• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.103.1-103.1
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• 2017

Nanocrystalline HfN coatings were prepared by reactively sputtering Hf metal target with N2 gas using a magnetron sputtering system operated in DC and ICP (inductively coupled plasma) condition with various powers. The effects of ICP power, ranging from 0 to 200 W, on the coating microstructure, corrosion and mechanical properties were systematically investigated with FE-SEM, AFM, potentiostat and nanoindentation. The results show that ICP power has a significant influence on coating microstructure and mechanical properties of HfN coatings. With the increasing of ICP power, coating microstructure evolves from the columnar structure of DC process to a highly dense one. Average grain size and nano hardness of HfN coatings were also investigated with increasing ICP powers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.125-126
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• 2007

Polycrystalline silicon thin-film-transistors (Poly-Si TFT's) with a amorphous-$Si_xGe_y$ seed layer have been fabricated to improve the performance of TFT. The dependence of crystal structure and electrical characteristics on the the Ge fractions in $Si_xGe_y$ seed layer were investigated. As a result, the increase of grain size and enhancement of electrical characteristics were obtained from the poly-Si TFT's with amorphous-SixGey seed layer.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.374-378
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• 2010

$MgTiO_3$ thin films were prepared by r.f. magnetron sputtering in order to prepare miniaturized NPO type MLCCs. $MgTiO_3$ films showed a polycrystalline structure of ilmenite characterized by the appearance of (110) and (202) peaks. The intensity of the peaks decreased with an increase in the chamber pressure due to the decrease of crystallinity which resulted from the decrease of kinetic energy of the sputtered atoms. The films annealed at $600^{\circ}C$ for 60min. showed a fine grained microstructure without micro-cracks. The grain size and roughness of the $MgTiO_3$ films decreased with the increase of chamber pressure. The average surface roughness was 1.425~0.313 nm for $MgTiO_3$ films prepared at 10~70 mTorr. $MgTiO_3$ films showed a dielectric constant of 17~19.7 and a dissipation factor of 2.1~4.9% at 1MHz. The dielectric constant of the films is similar to that of bulk ceramics. The dielectric constant and the dissipation factor decreased with the increase of the chamber pressure due to the decrease of grain size and crystallinity. The leakage current density was $10^{-5}\sim10^{-7}A/cm^2$ at 200kV/cm and this value decreased with the increase of the chamber pressure. The small grain size and smooth surface microstructure of the films deposited at high chamber pressure resulted in a low leakage current density. $MgTiO_3$ films showed a near zero temperature coefficient and satisfied the specifications for NPO type materials. The dielectric properties of the $MgTiO_3$ thin films prepared by sputtering suggest the feasibility of their application for MLCCs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.312-312
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• 2012

Magnesium oxide has become focus for research activities due to its use in magnetic tunnel junctions and for understanding of do ferromagnetism. Theoretical investigations on such type of system indicate that the presence of defects greater than a threshold value is responsible for the magnetic behaviour. It has also been shown experimentally that by decreasing the film thickness and size of nanoparticles, enhancement/increase in magnetization can be achieved. Apart from the change in dimension, swift heavy ions (SHI) are well known for creating defects and modifying the properties of the materials. In the present work, we have studied the irradiation induced effects in magnesium oxide thin film deposited on quartz substrate via X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Magnesium oxide thin films of thickness 50nm were deposited on quartz substrate by using e-beam evaporation method. These films were irradiated by 200 MeV Ag15+ ion beam at fluence of $1{\times}10^{11}$, $5{\times}10^{11}$, $1{\times}10^{12}$, $3{\times}10^{12}$ and $5{\times}10^{12}ions/cm^2$ at Nuclear Science Centre, IUAC, New Delhi (India). The grain size was observed (as studied by AFM) to be decreased from 37 nm (pristine film) to 23 nm ($1{\times}10^{12}ions/cm^2$) and thereafter it increases upto a fluence of $5{\times}10^{12}ions/cm^2$. The electronic structure of the system has been investigated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) measurements performed at the high energy spherical grating monochromator 20A1 XAS (HSGM) beamline in the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC), Taiwan. Oxides of light elements like MgO/ZnO possess many unique physical properties with potentials for novel application in various fields. These irradiated thin films are also studied with different polarization (left and right circularly polarized) of incident x-ray beam at 05B3 EPU- Soft x-ray scattering beamline of NSRRC. The detailed analysis of observed results in the wake of existing theories is discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.602-607
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• 2013

Concern for the TOS (Transparent Oxide Semiconductor) is increasing with the recent increase in interest for flexible device. Especially MgZnO has attracted a lot of attention. $Mg_xZn_{1-x}O$, which ZnO-based wideband-gap alloys is tuneable the band-gap ranges from 3.36 eV to 7.8 eV. In particular, the flexible substrate, the crystal structure of the amorphous as well as the surface morphology is not good. So research of MgZnO thin films growth on flexible substrate is essential. Therefore, in this study, we studied on the effects of the oxygen partial pressure on the structural and crystalline of $Mg_{0.1}Zn_{0.9}O$ thin films. MgZnO thin films were deposited on PES substrate by using pulsed laser deposition. We used XRD and AFM in order to observe the structural characteristics of MgZnO thin films. UV-visible spectrophotometer was used to get the band gap and transmittance. Crystallization was done at a low oxygen partial pressure. The crystallinity of MgZnO thin films with increasing temperature was improved, Grain size and RMS of the films were increased. MgZnO thin films showed high transmittance over 80% in the visible region.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.12
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• pp.931-937
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• 2012

The microstructure of Cu-15 wt%Ag composites fabricated by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) with intermediate heat treatment at $320^{\circ}C$ was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations. Ag precipitates with a thickness of 20-40 nm were observed in the eutectic region of the Cu-15 wt%Ag composite solution treated at $700^{\circ}C$ before ECAP. The Cu matrix and Ag precipitates had a cube on cube orientation relationship. ECAPed composites exhibited ultrafine-grained microstructures with the shape and distribution dependent on the processing routes. For route A in which the sample was pressed without rotation between each pass, the Cu and Ag grains were elongated along the shear direction and many micro-twins were observed in elongated Cu grains as well as in Ag filaments. The steps were observed on coherent twin boundaries in Cu grains. For route Bc in which the sample was rotated by 90 degrees after each pass, a subgrain structure with misorientation of 2-4 degree by fragmentation of the large Cu grains were observed. For route C in which the sample was rotated by 180 degrees after each pass, the microstructure was similar to that of the route A sample. However, the thickness of the elongated grains along the shear direction was wider than that of the route A sample and the twin density was lower than the route A sample. It was found that more microtwins were formed in ECAPed Cu-15 wt%Ag than in the drawn sample. Grain boundaries were observed in relatively thick and long Ag filaments in Cu-15 wt%Ag ECAPed by route C, indicating the multi-crystalline nature of Ag filaments.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.11
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• pp.632-638
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• 2014

We investigated the effects of DMAB (Borane dimethylamine complex, C2H10BN) in electroless Ni-B film with addition of DMAB as reducing agent for electroless Ni plating. The electroless Ni-B films were formed by electroless plating of near neutral pH (pH 6.5 and pH 7) at $50^{\circ}C$. The electroless plated Ni-B films were coated on screen printed Ag pattern/PET (polyethylene terephthalate). According to the increase of DMAB (from 0 to 1 mole), the deposition rate and the grain size of electroless Ni-B film increased and the boron (B) content also increased. In crystallinity of electroless Ni-B films, an amorphization reaction was enhanced in the formation of Ni-B film with an increasing content of DMAB; the Ni-B film with < 1 B at.% had a weak fcc structure with a nano crystalline size, and the Ni-B films with > 5 B at.% had an amorphous structure. In addition, the Ni-B film was selectively grown on the printed Ag paste layer without damage to the PET surface. From this result, we concluded that formation of electroless Ni-B film is possible by a neutral process (~green process) at a low temperature of $50^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.227-233
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• 2005

Electrochemical characteristics of welded stainless steels containing Ti have been studied by using the electrochemical techniques in 0.5 M $H_2SO_4$+0.01 M KSCN solutions at $25^{\circ}C$. Stainless steels with 12 mm thick-ness containing $0.2{\~}0.9 wt\%$ Ti were fabricated with vacuum melting and following rolling process. The stainless steels were solutionized for 1hr at $1050^{\circ}C$ and welded by MIG method. Samples were individually prepared with welded zone, heat affected zone, and matrix for intergranular corrosion and pitting test. Optical microscope, XRD and SEM are used for analysing microstructure, surface and corrosion morphology of the stainless steels. The welded zone of the stainless steel with lower Ti content have shown dendrite structure mixed with $\gamma$ and $\delta$ phase. The Cr-carbides were precipitated at twin and grain boundary in heat affected zone of the steel and also the matrix had the typical solutionized structure. The result of electrochemical measurements showed that the corrosion potential of welded stainless steel were Increased with higher Ti content. On the other hand, reactivation($I_r$), passivation and active current($I_a$) density were decreased with higher Ti content. In the case of lower Ti content, the corrosion attack of welded stainless steel was remarkably occurred along intergranular boundary and ${\gamma}/{\delta}$ phase boundary in heat affected zone.

• Metals and materials international
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.1285-1292
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• 2018

Microstructural properties of as-grown and annealed CoCrFeMnNi high entropy alloy (HEA) oxynitride thin films were investigated. The CoCrFeMnNi HEA oxynitride thin film was grown by magnetron sputtering method using an air gas, and annealed under the argon plus air flow for 5 h at $800^{\circ}C$. The as-grown film was homogeneous and uniform composed of nanometer-sized crystalline regions mixed with amorphous-like phase. The crystalline phase in the as-grown film was face centered cubic structure with the lattice constant of 0.4242 nm. Significant microstructural changes were observed after the annealing process. First, it was fully recrystallized and grain growth happened. Second, Ni-rich region was observed in nanometer-scale range. Third, phase change happened and it was determined to be $Fe_3O_4$ spinel structure with the lattice constant of 0.8326 nm. Hardness and Young's modulus of the as-grown film were 4.1 and 150.5 GPa, while those were 9.4 and 156.4 GPa for the annealed film, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.542-549
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• 2020

Effects of Sc addition on microstructure, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of the as-cast and as-extruded Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg-xSc (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5 wt%) alloys are investigated. The average grain size of the as-cast Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg alloy is 2,334 ㎛; however, this value drops to 914 and 529 ㎛ with addition of Sc element at 0.25 wt% and 0.5 wt%, respectively. This grain refinement is due to primary Al₃Sc phase forming during solidification. The as-extruded Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg alloy has a recrystallization structure consisting of almost equiaxed grains. However, the as-extruded Sc-containing alloys consist of grains that are extremely elongated in the extrusion direction. In addition, it is found that the proportion of low-angle grain boundaries below 15 degree is dominant. This is because the addition of Sc results in the formation of coherent and nano-scale Al₃Sc phases during hot extrusion, inhibiting the process of recrystallization and improving the strength by pinning of dislocations and the formation of subgrain boundaries. The maximum values of the yield and tensile strength are 126 MPa and 215 MPa for the as-extruded Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg-0.25Sc alloy, respectively. The increase in strength is probably due to the existence of nano-scale Al₃Sc precipitates and dense Al₂Cu phases. Thermal conductivity of the as-cast Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg-xSc alloy is reduced to 204, 187 and 183 W/MK by additions of elemental Sc of 0, 0.25 and 0.5 wt%, respectively. On the other hand, the thermal conductivity of the as-extruded Al-2Zn-1Cu-0.3Mg-xSc alloy is about 200 W/Mk regardless of the content of Sc. This is because of the formation of coherent Al₃Sc phase, which decreases Sc content and causes extremely high electrical resistivity.