• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.57 no.12
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• pp.2249-2254
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• 2008

A non-thermal micron size plasma needle is applicable for medical treatment because it includes radicals, charged particles, ultraviolet emission, and strong electric fields. The electric fields around the plasma needle device driven by a radio frequency wave are investigated in order to calculate the power delivered to the cell. A commercial multi-physics code, CFD-ACE, was utilized for the calculation of electric fields for the optimization of the needle structure. The electric field and energy absorption profiles are presented with the variation of the device structure and the distance between the needle and tissues. The living tissues effectively absorb the radio frequency power from the plasma needle device with the covered pyrex structure.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.56 no.11
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• pp.1972-1977
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• 2007

Micro plasma has been recently studied to investigate the effects on various cells. We study a micro-plasma produced by a plasma needle that is operated with RF power and its effects on G361 melanoma cells. The micro plasma size ranges from sub-mm to several mm at a few watts of RF power. For the bio-medical treatment, low-temperature plasma is obtained and gas temperature is controlled within several tens of degrees $(^{\circ}C)$ in order not to disturb cell activities. Elementary spectroscopic studies to obtain plasma characteristics are presented for Ar and He plasma with different frequencies of RF power. Also the preliminary results of the micro plasma effects on G361 melanoma cells are presented. It was observed that the irradiation of micro plasma induces cell death through the deprivation of tyrosine phosphorylation in the G361 cells.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.220-221
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• 2007

Micro plasma has been recently studied to investigate the effects on various cells. We study a micro-plasma produced by a plasma needle that is operated with RF power and its effects on G361 melanoma cells. The micro plasma size ranges from sub-mm to several mm at a few watts of RF power. For the bio-medical treatment, low-temperature plasma is obtained and gas temperature is controlled within several tens of degrees $(^{\circ}C)$ in order not to disturb cell activities. Elementary spectroscopic studies to obtain plasma characteristics are presented for Ar and He plasma with different frequencies of RF power. Also the preliminary results of the micro plasma effects on G361 melanoma cells are presented. It was observed that the irradiation of micro plasma induces cell death through the deprivation of tyrosine phosphorylation in the G361 cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.97-97
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• 2013

The exterior structures of natural organisms have continuously evolved by controlling wettability, such as the Namib Desert beetle, whose back has hydrophilic/hydrophobic contrast for water harvesting by mist condensation in dry desert environments, and some plant leaves that have hierarchical micro/nanostructures to collect or repel liquid water. In this work, we have provided a method for wettability contrast on metals by both nano-flake or needle patterns and tuning of the surface energy. Metals including steel alloys and aluminum were provided with hierarchical micro/nanostructures of metaloxides induced by fluorination and a subsequent catalytic reaction of fluorine ions on metal surfaces in water with various ranges from room to boiling temperature of water. Then, a hydrophobic material was deposited on the structured surfaces, rendering superhydrophobicity. Plasma oxidization induces the formation of superhydrophilic surfaces on selective regions surrounded by superhydrophobic surfaces. We show that wettability contrast surfaces align liquid water within patterned hydrophilic regions during the condensation process. Furthermore, this method could have a greater potential to align other liquids or living cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.509-509
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• 2011

Superhydrophobic surfaces on alloyed steels were fabricated with a non-conventional method of plasma etching and subsequent water immersion procedure. High aspect ratio nanopatterns of nanoflake or nano-needle were created on the steels with various Cr content in its composition. With CF4 plasma treatment in radio-frequence chemical vapor deposition (r.-f. CVD) method, steel surfaces were etched and fluorinated by CF4 plasma, which induced the nanopattern evolution through the water immersion process. It was found that fluorine ion played a role as a catalyst to form nanopatterns in water elucidated with XPS and TEM analysis. The hierarchical patterns in micro- and nano scale leads to superhydrophobic properties on the surfaces by deposition of a hydrophobic coating with a-C:H:Si:O film deposited with a gas precursor of hexamethlydisiloxane (HMDSO) with its lower surface energy of 24.2 mN/m, similar to that of curticular wax covering lotus surfaces. Since this method is based on plasma dry etching & coating, precise patterning of surface texturing would be potential on steel or metal surfaces. Patterned hydrophobic steel surfaces were demonstrated by mimicking the Robinia pseudoacacia or acacia leaf, on which water was collected from the humid air using a patterned hydrophobicity on the steels. It is expected that this facile, non-toxic and fast technique would accelerate the large-scale production of superhydrophobic engineering materials with industrial applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.118-118
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• 2003

In a rolling wire probe, a key component of an inspection apparatus for PDP electrode patterns, the electric performance of it is known to be strongly dependent on the surface condition of a collet pin, a needle pin, and a wire. However, the collet and needle pins rotate very rapidly in contact with each other, which results in the degradation of the surface by the heat and friction and finally the formation of black wear marks on the surface after a several hundred hours test. Once the black wear marks appear on the surface, the electric resistance of the probe increases sharply and so the integrity of the probe is severely damaged. In this experiment, TiN coating, which has excellent electric conductances and good wear-resistance, has been applied on the surface of collect and needle pins for preventing the surface damages. In order to achieve the homogeneous coating with a good adhesion property, special coating substrate stages and jigs were designed and applied during coating. TiN has been deposited using 99.999% Titanium target by a DC reactive sputtering method. According to the components and jigs, processing parameters, such as DC power, RF bias and the flow rate ratio of Ar and N$_2$ used as reactive gases, has been controlled to obtain good TiN films. Detailed problems and solutions for applying the new substrate stages and jigs will be discussed.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.480-485
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• 1997

The absorption profile of phenytoin Na emulsion were examined compared to that of phenytoin suspension after oral administration in the rat. The corn oil-in-water emulsion, particle size of $184{\pm}$57.8 nm, was prepared using a microfludizer, and phenytoin Na added by shaft homogenizer. The phenytoin emulsion or suspension, 100 mg/kg, were intubated intragastrically using oral dosing needle and blood samples were withdrawn via an indwelling cannula from the conscious rat. Plasma concentrations of phenytoin were measured with HPLC using phenacetin as an internal standard. The plasma concentration versus time data were fitted to a one compartment open model and the pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated using the computer program, Boomer. The phenytoin plasma concentrations from the emulsion at each observed time were about 1.5-2 times higher than those from the suspension, significantly at time of 5, 6 and 7 hr after administration. The absorption $(k_a)$ and elimination rate constant $(k_e)$ were not altered significantly, however the AUC increased from 65.6 to $106.7{\mu}ghr/ml$ after phenytoin suspension or emulsion oral administration, respectively. From an equilibrium dialysis study, the diffusion rate constant $(k_{IE})$ was considerably higher from the phenytoin Na emulsion $(0.0439 hr{-1})$ than phenytoin suspension $(0.0014 hr{-1})$.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.70-78
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• 2005

Mechanical alloying using high-energy ball mill and subsequent spark plasma sintering (SPS) process was applied to understand mechanical alloying processing of Al-Fe alloy system. The thermal stability of mechanically alloyed Al-Fe alloy was intended to be enhanced by SPS process. Various analytical techniques including particle size analysis, density measurement, micro-Vickers hardness test, SEM, TEM, and X-ray diffractometry were adopted to find optimum processing conditions for mechanical alloying and subsequent SPS and to estimate thermal stability of the prepared alloy. It was found from the treatment of mechanically alloyed Al-8wt.%Fe powder mixture that needle-shaped $Al_3Fe$ precipitates was formed in the Al-Fe matrix, and the alloy compact showed enhanced densification and reached its full density with little loss of its fine microstructure. After heat treatment at $500^{\circC}$, it was also shown that the thermal stability of Al-8wt.%Fe alloy fabricated in the present study was enhanced, which was due to its fine microstructure developed by fast densification of SPS.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.122-122
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• 2012

The exterior structures of natural organisms have continuously evolved by controlling wettability, such as the Namib Desert beetle, whose back has hydrophilic/hydrophobic contrast for water harvesting by mist condensation in dry desert environments, and some plant leaves that have hierarchical micro/nanostructures to collect or repel liquid water. In this work, we have provided a method for wettability contrast on metals by both nano-flake or needle patterns and tuning of the surface energy. Metals including steel alloys and aluminum were provided with hierarchical micro/nanostructures of metaloxides induced by fluorination and a subsequent catalytic reaction of fluorine ions on metal surfaces in water with various ranges from room to boiling temperature of water. Then, a hydrophobic material was deposited on the structured surfaces, rendering superhydrophobicity. Plasma oxidization induces the formation of superhydrophilic surfaces on selective regions surrounded by superhydrophobic surfaces. We show that wettability contrast surfaces align liquid water within patterned hydrophilic regions during the condensation process. Furthermore, this method could have a greater potential to align other liquids or living cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.380-381
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• 2012

Bioinspired sea urchin-like structures were fabricated on silicon by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching using lens-like shape hexagonally patterned photoresist (PR) patterns and subsequent metal-assisted chemical etching (MaCE) [1]. The lens-like shape PR patterns with a diameter of 2 ${\mu}m$ were formed by conventional lithography method followed by thermal reflow process of PR patterns on a hotplate at $170^{\circ}C$ for 40 s. ICP etching process was carried out in an SF6 plasma ambient using an optimum etching conditions such as radio-frequency power of 50 W, ICP power of 25 W, SF6 flow rate of 30 sccm, process pressure of 10 mTorr, and etching time of 150 s in order to produce micron structure with tapered etch profile. 15 nm thick Ag film was evaporated on the samples using e-beam evaporator with a deposition rate of 0.05 nm/s. To form Ag nanoparticles (NPs), the samples were thermally treated (thermally dewetted) in a rapid thermal annealing system at $500^{\circ}C$ for 1 min in a nitrogen environment. The Ag thickness and thermal dewetting conditions were carefully chosen to obtain isolated Ag NPs. To fabricate needle-like nanostructures on both the micron structure (i.e., sea urchin-like structures) and flat surface of silicon, MaCE process, which is based on the strong catalytic activity of metal, was performed in a chemical etchant (HNO3: HF: H2O = 4: 1: 20) using Ag NPs at room temperature for 1 min. Finally, the residual Ag NPs were removed by immersion in a HNO3 solution. The fabricated structures after each process steps are shown in figure 1. It is well-known that the hierarchical micro- and nanostructures have efficient light harvesting properties [2-3]. Therefore, this fabrication technique for production of sea urchin-like structures is applicable to improve the performance of light harvesting devices.