• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.249-256
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• 2008

0.5 wt% Al doped ZnO thin films (AZO) were prepared on glass substrates using RF magnetron sputtering method. Thin films were grown at substrate temperature of $250^{\circ}C$, RF power of 75W, working pressure of 10 mTorr, by changing the $O_2/Ar$ pressure ratio from 0% to 16.7%. The effects of oxygen partial pressure during the deposition process on structural and optical properties of the films were investigated using XRD, SEM, AFM, EPMA and UV-visible spectroscopy. All the AZO thin films were grown as hexagonal wurtzite phase with the c-axis preferred out-of-plane orientation. The surface roughness and grain size of AZO films decreased with increasing oxygen ratio from 10.6 nm to 3.2 nm and 94.9 nm to 30.9 nm, respectively. On the other hand, the transmittance and band gap energy of the AZO films increased from 84.7% to 92.6% and 3.24 eV to 3.28 eV, respectively with increasing the $O_2/Ar$ pressure ratio.

• Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.2256-2268
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• 2018

Hydrophilic and hydrophobic polyethersulfone (PES)-zinc oxide (ZnO) sublayers were prepared by loading of ZnO nanoparticles into PES matrix. Both porosity and hydrophilicity of the hydrophilic sublayer were increased upon addition of hydrophilic ZnO, while these were decreased for the hydrophobic sublayer. In addition, the results demonstrated that the hydrophilic membrane exhibited smaller structural parameter (S value or S parameter or S), which is beneficial for improving pure water permeability and decreasing mass transfer resistance. In contrast, a higher S parameter was obtained for the hydrophobic membrane. With a 2 M NaCl as DS and DI water as FS, the pure water flux of hydrophilic TFN0.5 membrane was increased from $21.02L/m^2h$ to $30.06L/m^2h$ and decreased for hydrophobic TFN0.5 membrane to $14.98L/m^2h$, while the salt flux of hydrophilic membrane increased from $10.12g/m^2h$ to $17.31g/m^2h$ and decreased for hydrophobic TFN0.5 membrane to $3.12g/m^2h$. The increment in pure water permeability can be ascribed to reduction in S parameter, which resulted in reduced internal concentration polarization (ICP). The current study provides a feasible and low cost procedure to decrease the ICP in FO processes.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.451-465
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• 2021

In this investigation, electrochemical characteristics and damage behavior of 316L stainless steel polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) were analyzed by potentiodynamic and potentiostatic tests in cathode operating condition of PEMFC. As the result of potentiodynamic polarization test, range of passive region was larger than range of active region. In the result of potentiostatic test, damage depth and width, pit volume, and surface roughness were increased 1.57, 1.27, 2.48, and 1.34 times, respectively, at 1.2 V compared to 0.6 V at 24 hours. Also, as a result of linear regression analysis of damage depth and width graph, trend lines of damage depth and width according to applied potentials were 16.6 and 14.3 times larger, respectively. This demonstrated that applied potential had a greater effect on pitting damage depth of 316L stainless steel. The damage tendency values were 0.329 at 6 hours and 0.633 at 24 hours with applied potentials, representing rapid growth in depth direction according to the test times and applied potentials. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed that surface of specimen exhibited clear pitting damage with test times and applied potentials, which was thought to be because a stable oxide film was formed by Cr and Mo.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.94-99
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• 2022

Ternary phased graphene/silica/EVOH nanocomposite coating materials were prepared via sol-gel process and solution blending process. From both SEM observations and XRD analysis, the exfoliated structure and dispersion state of graphene nanosheets and silica particles in the nanocomposites as well as the intercalated and exfoliated structure of the prepared graphene oxide were confirmed. The incorporation of GrO and silica at appropriate content resulted in remarkable improvement in oxygen barrier property of the ternary phased nanocompoiste-coated BOPP films, compared with that of binary(silica/EVOH) phased nanocomposite coating films, however, at excess amount of GrO and silica, very slight variation was observed due to incomplete exfoliation, dispersion of graphene tactoids, and formation of micro cracks in the silica clusters. In addition, the transparency of nanocomposite-coated film was investigated by measuring the light transmittance as a function of GrO contents, suggesting the possibility for the application of food packaging films.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.109-114
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• 2021

We investigated the effects of atmospheric hydrogen plasma treatment on Cu-Cu direct bonding. Hydrogen plasma was effective in reducing the surface oxide layer of Cu thin film, which was confirmed by GIXRD analysis. It was observed that larger plasma input power and longer treatment time were effective in terms of reduction and surface roughness. The interfacial adhesion energy was measured by DCB test and it was observed to decrease as the bonding temperature decreased, resulting in bonding failure at bonding temperature of 200℃. In case of wet treatment, strong Cu-Cu bonding was observed above bonding temperature of 250℃.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.384-390
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• 2022

A spin coating process for RRAM, which is a TiN/TiO₂/FTO structure based on a PTC sol solution, was developed in this laboratory, a method which enables low-temperature and eco-friendly manufacturing. The RRAM corresponds to an OxRAM that operates through the formation and extinction of conductive filaments. Heat treatment was selected as a method of controlling oxygen vacancy (V_O), a major factor of the conductive filament. It was carried out at 100 ℃ under moisture removal conditions and at 300 ℃ and 500 ℃ for excellent phase stability. XRD analysis confirmed the anatase phase in the thin film increased as the heat treatment increased, and the Ti³⁺ and OH- groups were observed to decrease in the XPS analysis. In the I-V analysis, the device at 100 ℃ showed a low primary SET voltage of 5.1 V and a high ON/OFF ratio of 10⁴. The double-logarithmic plot of the I-V curve confirmed the device at 100 ℃ required a low operating voltage. As a result, the 100 ℃ heat treatment conditions were suitable for the low voltage driving and high ON/OFF ratio of TiN/TiO₂/FTO RRAM devices and these results suggest that the operating voltage and ON/OFF ratio required for OxRAM devices used in various fields under specific heat treatment conditions can be compromised.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.348-352
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• 2022

Hydrogen gas (H₂) which is odorless, colorless is attracting attention as a renewable energy source in varions applications but its leakage can lead to disastrous disasters, such as inflammable, explosive, and narcotic disasters at high concentrations. Therefore, it is necessary to develop H₂ gas sensor with high performance. In this paper, we confirmed that H₂ gas detection ability of SnO₂ based H₂ gas sensor along with thermal treatment effect of SnO₂. Proposed SnO₂ based H₂ gas sensor is fabricated by MEMS technologies such as photolithgraphy, sputtering and lift-off process, etc. Deposited SnO₂ thin films are thermally treated in various thermal treatement temperature in range of 500-900 ℃ and their H₂ gas detection ability is estimatied by measuring output current of H₂ gas sensor. Based on experimental results, fabricated H₂ gas sensor with SnO₂ thin film which is thermally treated at 700 ℃ has a superior H₂ gas detection ability, and it can be expected to utilize at the practical applications.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.363-369
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• 2022

AlSi10Mg alloys are being actively studied through additive manufacturing for application in the automobile and aerospace industries because of their excellent mechanical properties. To obtain a consistently high quality product through additive manufacturing, studying the flowability and spreadability of the metal powder is necessary. AlSi10Mg powder easily forms an oxide film on the powder surface and has hydrophilic properties, making it vulnerable to moisture. Therefore, in this study, AlSi10Mg powder was hydrophobically modified through silane surface treatment to improve the flowability and spreadability by reducing the effects of moisture. The improved flowability according to the number of silane surface treatments was confirmed using a Carney flowmeter. In addition, to confirm the effects of improved spreadability, the powder prior to surface treatment and that subjected to surface treatment four times were measured and compared using s self-designed recoating tester. The results of this study confirmed the improved flowability and spreadability based on the modified metal powder from hydrophilic to hydrophobic for obtaining a high-quality additive manufacturing product.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.53-64
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• 2023

Atomic layer etching (ALE) is a promising technique with atomic-level thickness controllability and high selectivity based on self-limiting surface reactions. ALE is performed by sequential exposure of the film surface to reactants, which results in surface modification and release of volatile species. Among the various ALE methods, thermal ALE involves a thermally activated reaction by employing gas species to release the modified surface without using energetic species, such as accelerated ions and neutral beams. In this study, the basic principle and surface reaction mechanisms of thermal ALE?processes, including "fluorination-ligand exchange reaction", "conversion-etch reaction", "conversion-fluorination reaction", "oxidation-fluorination reaction", "oxidation-ligand exchange reaction", and "oxidation-conversion-fluorination reaction" are described. In addition, the reported thermal ALE processes for the removal of various oxides, metals, and nitrides are presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.28-43
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• 2022

To minimize such loss due to aging, research on energetic materials is being actively conducted though, there are difficulties in identifying the comprehensive aging mechanisms as they focused on the respective materials. In this study, thermal and surface analysis were performed on energetic materials composed of metals(W, Ti, and Zr) and KClO₄ oxidizer to solve the blind spots of this aging study. It was newly found that the metals in the hygrothermally aged compounds can cause significant changes in performance. For example, the growth in the thickness of the oxide film on the metals led to an increase in the average value of activation energy(E_α). In addition, the standard deviation of E_α tends to dependent on the type of metal, which is due to the difference in electronegativity.