• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.153-156
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• 2013

Charge transfer between STM tip and Au(100) has been investigated by using a Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) technique in dry, $H_2O$, and $D_2O$ atmospheres. Dry atmosphere was indicated by humidity as low as 5 % and high humidity as high as 98% was managed by injecting $H_2O$ and $D_2O$ to the chamber. The current decayed more slowly in high humidity than in dry atmosphere. The plateau currents were found to appear at separations larger than ca. $5{\AA}$ where the current decay stopped depending on applied bias voltages. The polarity dependence was observed at the STM junction between Pt-Ir tip and the gold. On the contrary, little dependence was seen at the one between Au tip and the substrate electrode.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.235-238
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• 2009

To study the relationship between spark ignition and the gap in the nano-scale region, the electric potential was applied to between a Pt-Ir tip and a gold substrate. The tip was sharpened by electro-chemical etching process in the solution of $CaCl_2;H_2O$ and acetone. The radius of tip was measured to be around 200nm and attached to the scanning probe microscope to control the gap between the tip and the substrate. The electric potential of 10V to 80V was applied to initialize the spark. The gaps and the current profile were measured to analyze the characteristics of spark ignition. A spark sustaining time was measured to be between 50ns and 200ns depending on the applied electric potential and the gap between the electrodes. The continuous electric discharge was successfully sustained up to 1 second of spark or arc time. The developed process can be applicable to the micro-scale fabrication of automotive sensors as a similar concept of GTAW.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.71-74
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• 2002

The apparent barrier height for charge transfer through an interfacial water layer between a Pt/Ir tip and a gold surface has been measured using STM technique. The average thickness of the interfacial water layer inside an STM junction was controlled by the amount of moisture. A thin water layer on the surface was formed when relative humidity was in the range of 10 to 80%. In such a case, electron tunneling through the thin water layer became the majority of charge transfers. The value of the barrier height for the electron tunneling was determined to be 0.95 eV from the current vs. distance curve, which was independent of the tip-sample distance. On the other hand, the apparent barrier height for charge transfer showed a dependence on tip-sample distance in the bias range of 0.1-0.5 V at a relative humidity of approximately 96%. The non-exponentiality for current decay under these conditions has been explained in terms of electron tunneling and electrochemical processes. In addition, the plateau current was observed at a large tip-sample distance, which was caused by electrochemical processes and was dependent on the applied voltage.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.49-54
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• 2005

In this paper, micro structuring technique using localized electrochemical deposition (LECD) with ultra short pulses was investigated. Electric field in electrochemical cell was localized near the tool tip end region by applying pulses of a few hundreds of nano second duration, Pt-Ir tip was used as a counter electrode and copper was deposited on the copper substrate in mixed electrolyte of 0.5 M $CuSO_4$ and 0.5 M $H_2SO_4$, The effectiveness of this technique was verified by comparison with ECD using DC voltage. The deposition characteristics such as size, shape, surface, and structural density according to applied voltage and pulse duration were investigated. The proper condition was selected based on the results of the various experiments. Micro columns less than $10{\mu}m$ in diameter were fabricated using this technique. The real 3D micro structures such as micro spring and micro pattern were made by the presented method.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.186-194
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• 2004

In this research, microfabrication technique using localized electrochemical deposition (LECD) with ultra short pulses is presented. Electric field is localized near the tool tip end region by applying a few hundreds of nano second pulses. Pt-Ir tip is used as a counter electrode and copper is deposited on the copper substrate in 0.5 M CuSO$_4$ and 0.5 M H$_2$SO$_4$ electrolyte. The effectiveness of this technique is verified by comparison with LECD using DC voltage. The deposition characteristics such as size, shape, surface, and structural density according to applied voltage and pulse duration are investigated. The proper condition is selected from the results of the experiments. Micro columns less than 10 $\mu$m in diameter are fabricated using this technique. The real 3D micro structures such as micro pattern and micro spring can be fabricated by this method. It is suggested that presented method can be used as an easy and inexpensive method for fabrication of microstructure with complex shape.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.64-64
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• 2009

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) fabrication of oxide patterns is an attractive technique for nanoscale patterns and related device structures, SiC exhibits good performance in high-power, high-frequency, and high-temperature conditions that is comparable to the performance of Si. The AFM fabrication of oxide patterns on SiC is important for electronic applications. However, there has not been much reported investigations on oxidation of SiC using AFM. We achieved the local oxidation of 4H-SiC using the high loading force of ~100 nN, although the oxidation of SiC is generally difficult mainly due to the physical hardness and chemical inactivity. All the experiments were performed using atomic force microscopy (S.I.S. GmbH, Germany) with a Pt/Ir-coated Si tip at ~40% humidity and room temperature. The spring constant and resonance frequency of the tip were around ~3 N/m and ~70 kHz. We fabricated oxide patterns on n-type 4H-SiC ($\sim10^{19}/cm^3$) and n-type Si ($\sim1.9\times10^{16}/cm^3$). In summary, we demonstrated that the oxide patterns can be obtained over the electric field of ${\sim}\times10^7 V/cm$ and the high loading force using the tip as a cathode. The electric field transports the oxyanions (OH-) to the positively biased surface.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.632-636
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• 2009

The local oxidation using an atomic force microscopy (AFM) is useful for Si-based fabrication of nanoscale structures and devices. SiC is a wide band-gap material that has advantages such as high-power, high-temperature and high-frequency in applications, and among several SiC polytypes, 4H-SiC is the most attractive polytype due to the high electron mobility. However, the AFM local oxidation of 4H-SiC for fabrication is still difficult, mainly due to the physical hardness and chemical inactivity of SiC. In this paper, we investigated the local oxidation of 4H-SiC surface using an AFM. We fabricated oxide patterns using a contact mode AFM with a Pt/Ir-coated Si tip (N-type, 0.01-0.025 ${\Omega}cm$) at room temperature, and the relative humidity ranged from 40 to 50 %. The height of the fabricated oxide pattern (1-3 nm) on SiC is similar to that of typically obtained on Si ($10^{15}^{\sim}10^{17}$ $cm^{-3}$). We perform the 2-D simulation to further analyze the electric field between the tip and the surface. We demonstrated that a specific electric field (4 ${\times}$ $10^7\;V/m$) and a doping concentration ($^{\sim}10^{17}$ $cm^{-3}$) is sufficient to switch on/off the growth of the local oxide on SiC.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.04b
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• pp.79-80
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• 2009

The local oxidation using an atomic force microscopy (AFM) is useful for Si-base fabrication of nanoscale structures and devices. SiC is a wide band-gap material that has advantages such as high-power, high-temperature and high-frequency in applications, and among several SiC poly types, 4H-SiC is the most attractive poly type due to the high electron mobility. However, the AFM local oxidation of 4H-SiC for fabrication is still difficult, mainly due to the physical hardness and chemical inactivity of SiC. In this paper, we investigated the local oxidation of 4H-SiC surface using an AFM. We fabricated oxide patterns using a contact mode AFM with a Pt/Ir-coated Si tip (N-type, $0.01{\sim}0.025\;{\Omega}cm$) at room temperature, and the relative humidity ranged from 40 to 50%. The height of the fabricated oxide pattern ($1{\sim}3\;nm$) on SiC is similar to that of typically obtained on Si ($10^{15}{\sim}10^{17}\;cm^{-3}$). We perform the 2-D simulation to further analyze the electric field between the tip and the surface. Whereas the simulated electric field on Si surface is constant ($5\;{\times}\;10^7\;V/m$), the electric field on SiC surface increases with increasing the doping concentration from ${\sim}10^{15}$ to ${\sim}10^{17}\;cm^{-3}$. We demonstrated that a specific electric field ($4\;{\times}\;10^7\;V/m$) and a doping concentration (${\sim}10^{17}\;cm^{-3}$) is sufficient to switch on/off the growth of the local oxide on SiC.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.640-645
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• 2010

This paper describes the power generating property of hydrothermally grown ZnO nanorods on a flexible polyethersulfone (PES) substrate. The piezoelectric currents generated by the ZnO nanorods were measured when bending the ZnO nanorod by using I-AFM, and the measured piezoelectric currents ranged from 60 to 100 pA. When the PtIr coated tip bends a ZnO nanorod, piezoelectrical asymmetric potential is created on the nanorod surface. The Schottky barrier at the ZnO-metal interface accumulates elecntrons and then release very quickly generating the currents when the tip moves from tensile to compressed part of ZnO nanorod. These ZnO nanorods were grown almost vertically with the length of 300-500 nm and the diameter of 30-60 nm on the Ag/Ti/PES substrate at $90^{\circ}C$ for 6 hours by hydrothermal method. The metal-semiconductor interface property was evaluated by using a HP 4145B Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer and the piezoelectric effect of the ZnO nanorods were evaluated by using an I-AFM. From the measured I-V characteristics, it was observed that ZnO-Ag and ZnO-Au metal-semiconductor interfaces showed an ohmic and a Schottky contact characteristics, respectively. ANSYS finite element simulation was performed in order to understand the power generation mechanism of the ZnO nanorods under applied external stress theoretically.