• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.573-579
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• 2009

A thermal mass air flow sensor, which consists of a micro-heater and thermal sensors on the silicon-nitride thin membrane structure, is micro-fabricated by MEMS processes. Three thermo-resistive sensors, one for the measurement of microheater temperature, the others for the measurement of membrane temperature upstream and downstream of the micro-heater respectively, are used. The micro-heater is operated under the constant temperature difference mode via a real time controller, based on inlet air temperature. Two design models for microfabricated flow sensor are compared with experimental results and confirmed their applicabilities and limitations. The thermal characteristics are measured to find the best flow indicator. It is found that two normalized temperature indicators can be adopted with some advantages in practice. The flow sensor with this control mode can be adopted for wide capability of high speed and sensitivity in the very low and medium velocity ranges.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.611-616
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• 2004

In this study, microfabrication of a micro-arcjet nozzle with Fifth-harmonic generation Nd：YAG pulses (wavelength 213 nm) and its thrust performance tests were conducted. A micro-arcjet nozzle was machined in a 1.2 mm thick quartz plate. Sizes of the nozzle were 0.44 mm in width of the nozzle exit and constrictor diameter of 0.1 mm. For an anode, a thin film of Au (~100 nm thick) was deposited by DC discharge PVD in vacuum on divergent part of the nozzle. As for a cathode, an Au film was also coated on inner wall surface. In operational tests, a stable discharge was observed for mass flow of 1.0mg/sec, discharge current of 6 ㎃, discharge voltage of 600 V, or 3.6 W input power (specific power of 3.6 MW/kg). In this case, plenum pressure of the discharge chamber was 80 ㎪. With 3.6 W input power, thrust obtained was 1.4 mN giving specific impulse of 138 sec with thrust efficiency of 24 %.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.171-176
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• 2013

In this paper, we present a MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) implantable blood pressure sensor which has designed and fabricated with consideration of size, design flexibility, and wireless detection. Mechanical and electrical characterizations of the sensor were obtained by mathematical analysis and computer aided simulation. The sensor is composed of two coils and a air gap capacitor formed by separation of the coils. Therefore, the sensor produces its resonant frequency which is changed by external pressure variation. This frequency movement is detected by inductive coupling between the sensor and an external antenna coil. Theoretically analyzed resonant frequency of the sensor under 760 mmHg was calculated to 269.556 MHz. Fused silica was selected as sensor material with consideration of chemical and electrical reaction of human body to the material. $2mm{\times}5mm{\times}0.5mm$ pressure sensors fitted to radial artery were fabricated on the substrates by consecutive microfabrication processes: sputtering, etching, photolithography, direct bonding and laser welding. Resonant frequencies of the fabricated sensors were in the range of 269~284 MHz under 760 mmHg pressure.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1017-1022
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• 2013

Currently, various optical fiber tips are used to deliver laser beam for endoscopic surgery. In this paper, we demonstrated multidirectional (forward and side) firing optical fiber tip using a femtosecond micromachining and $CO_2$ laser polishing technology. We controlled the edge width of optical fiber tip, by modulating the condition of $CO_2$ laser, to regulate the amount of side and forward emission. The distal end of the optical fiber with core/clad diameter of $400/440{\mu}m$ was microstructured with cone shape by using a femtosecond laser. And then the microstructured optical fiber tip was polished by $CO_2$ laser beam result in smoothing and specular reflection at the surface of the cone structure. Finally, we operated the LightTools simulation and good agreement was generally found between the proposed model and experimental simulation.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.959-964
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• 2001

An experimental investigation on the near-field electromagnetic loss of thin copper layers has been presented using microfabricated microwave transceivers for applications to multi-chip microsystems. Copper layers in the thickness range of 0.2$\mu$m∼200$\mu$m have been electroplated on the Pyrex glass substrates. Microwave transceivers have been fabricated using the 3.5mm$\times$3.5mm nickel microloop antennas, electroformed on the silicon substrates. Electromagnetic radiation loss of the copper layers placed between the microloop transceivers has been measured as 10dB∼40dB for the wave frequency range of 100MHz∼1GHz. The 0.2$\mu$m-thick copper layer provides a shield loss of 20dB at the frequencies higher than 300MHz, whereas showing a predominant decreases of shield loss to 10dB at lower frequencies. No substantial increase of the shield effectiveness has been found for the copper shield layers thicker that 2 $\mu$m.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.90-100
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• 2010

Micro-conductive patterns were microfabricated on an insulating substrate ($SiO_2$) surface by a selective electroless nickel plating process in order to investigate the formation of seed layers. To fabricate micro-conductive patterns, a thin layer of metal (Cu.Cr) was deposited in the desired micropattern using laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT). and above this layer, a second layer was plated by selective electroless plating. The LIFT process. which was carried out in multi-scan mode, was used to fabricate micro-conductive patterns via electroless nickel plating. This method helps to improve the deposition process for forming seed patterns on the insulating substrate surface and the electrical conductivity of the resulting patterns. This study analyzes the effect of seed pattern formation by LIFT and key parameters in electroless nickel plating during micro-conductive pattern fabrication. The effects of the process variables on the cross-sectional shape and surface quality of the deposited patterns are examined using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and an optical microscope.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.106-112
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• 2021

Thermoplastic microfluidic devices are used in BioMEMS for medical and biotechnology applications, such as gene extraction, DNA analysis, and virus detection. In this research, a simple fabrication protocol with a commercially available pneumatic hot press is proposed and demonstrated for polycarbonate microfluidic devices. Microfluidic channels with a width of 200 ㎛ and a height of 10 ㎛ were designed and machined onto a brass plate as a mold insert using a CNC milling machine. The resulting microfluidic channels on the mold insert were assessed and found to have an actual width of 198 ㎛ and a height of 10 ± 0.25 ㎛. The microfluidic channels were replicated on a polycarbonate sheet using the proposed replication technique at 146℃ for 20 minutes under a constant load of 2400 kgf. The devices were then naturally cooled to 100℃ while maintaining the same pressure. It was found that the microchannels were successfully replicated in the polycarbonate, with a width of 198 ㎛ and a height of 10.07 ㎛. The proposed replication technique thus offers the rapid mass production of high-quality microfluidic devices at a low cost with a process that, unlike conventional photolithography systems, does not require expensive equipment.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.107-114
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• 2023

Graphene oxide (GO) membranes have attracted extensive attention in water treatment and related fields. However, GO films are unstable and have low permeability, which have hindered their further development. In this paper, a simple and effective method was used in which GO and single-layer graphene (GN) were mixed, and the layer spacing was effectively controlled by accurately controlling the ratio of GO to GN. GO-GN composite membranes have excellent stability, salt rejection (95.4%), and water flux (26 L m^-2 h^-1 bar^-1). This unique design structure can be used for precise and effective regulation of the layer spacing in GO, improving the rejection rate, and increasing water flux via the enhancement of low-friction capillary action. The rational development and use of this unique composite membrane provides a reference for the water treatment field.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.187-187
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• 2012

In this report, the plasmonic nanopores of less than 5 nm diameter were fabricated on the apex of the pyramidal cavity array. The metallic pyramidal pit cavity can also utilized as the plasmonic bioreactor, and the fabricated Au or Al metallic nanopore can provide the controllable translocation speed down using the plasmonic optical force. Initially, the SiO2 nanopore on the pyramidal pit cavity were fabricated using conventional microfabrication techniques. Then, the metallic thin film was sputter-deposited, followed by surface modification of the nanometer thick membrane using FESEM, TEM and EPMA. The huge electron intensity of FESEM with ~microsecond scan speed can provide the rapid solid phase surface transformation. However, the moderate electron beam intensity from the normal TEM without high speed scanning can only provide the liquid phase surface modification. After metal deposition, the 100 nm diameter aperture using FIB beam drilling was obtained in order to obtain the uniform nano-aperture. Then, the nanometer size aperture was reduced down to ~50 nm using electron beam surface modification using high speed scanning FESEM. The followed EPMA electron beam exposure without high speed scanning presents the reduction of the nanosize aperture down to 10 nm. During these processes, the widening or the shrinking of the nanometer pore was observed depending upon the electron beam intensity. Finally, using 200 keV TEM, the diameter of the nanopore was successively down from 10 nm down to 1.5 nm.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.237-242
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• 2013

This paper proposes a thermal peripheral blood flowmeter integrated with a force sensor that is capable of contact force compensation. We fabricate this blood flowmeter using a nickel RTD (resistance temperature detector) and piezoresistive force sensor by using microfabrication technology. In an experiment, we obtained a decreasing trend for the blood flow under an increasing contact force with a linear tendency of 31.7%/N. We then performed a compensation process based on this obtained trend. As a result, the maximum variance in the blood flow at 1-3N was 9.8%. Thus we achieved consistent blood flow measurement independent of the contact force. In this work, we verified that the thermal blood flowmeter integrated with a force sensor has the ability to accurately measure the blood flow independent of the contact force.