• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.357-362
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• 1996

Several applications of radio-frequency (RF) thermal plasma to film formation are reviewed. Three types of injection plasma processing (IPP) technique are first introduced for the deposition of materials. Those are thermal plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD), plasma flash evaporation, and plasma spraying. Radio-frequency (RF) plasma and hybrid (combination of RF and direct current(DC)) plasma are next introduced as promising thermal plasma sources in the IPP technique. Experimental data for three kinds of processing are demonstrated mainly based on our recent researches of depositions of functional materials, such as high temperature semiconductor SiC and diamond, ionic conductor $ZrO_2-Y_2O_3$ and high critical temperature superconductor $YBa_2Cu_3O_7-x$. Special emphasis is given to thermal plasma flash evaporation, in which nanometer-scaled clusters generated in plasma flame play important roles as nanometer-scaled clusters as deposition species. A novel epitaxial growth mechanism from the "hot" clusters namely "hot cluster epitaxy (HCE)" is proposed.)" is proposed.osed.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.4 no.2 s.11
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• pp.11-14
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• 2005

In plasma processing reactors, it is common practice to control plasma density and ion bombardment energy by manipulating excitation voltage and frequency. In this paper, a dually excited capacitively coupled rf plasma reactor is self-consistently simulated with a three moment model. Effects of phase differences between primary and secondary voltage waves, simultaneously modulated at various combinations of commensurate frequencies, on plasma properties are investigated. The simulation results show that plasma potential and density as well as primary self-dc bias are nearly unaffected by the phase lag between the primary and the secondary voltage waves. The results also show that, with the secondary frequency substantially lower than the primary frequency, secondary self·do bias remains constant regardless of the phase lag. As the secondary frequency approaches to the primary frequency, however, the secondary self-dc bias becomes greatly altered by the phase lag, and so does the ion bombardment energy at the secondary electrode. These results demonstrate that ion bombardment energy can be more carefully controlled through plasma simulation.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.317-324
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• 2013

Radio-frequency driven atmospheric pressure plasma using argon gas was studied in the inactivation of Campylobacter jejuni in order to investigate its applicability. First, the inactivation study was conducted on an agar surface. C. jejuni NCTC11168 was reduced by more than 7 Log CFU after an 88 s treatment. Another strain, ATCC49943, was studied; however, the inactivation was less efficient, with a 5 Log CFU reduction after a 2 min treatment. Then, chicken breast ham was studied at the $10^6$ CFU inoculation level. The inactivation efficiency was much lower for both strains compared to that on the agar plates. C. jejuni NCTC11168 and ATCC49943 were reduced by 3 Log CFU after a 6 min treatment and by 1.5 Log CFU after a 10 min treatment, respectively. The scanning electron microscopy analysis indicated that C. jejuni cells were deformed or transformed into coccoid form under the plasma treatment. During the plasma treatment, the temperature of the samples did not rise above $43^{\circ}C$, suggesting that heat did not contribute to the inactivation. Meanwhile, water activity significantly decreased after a 10 min treatment (p<0.05). This study conveyed that radio-frequency atmospheric pressure plasma can effectively inactivate C. jejuni with strain-specific variation.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 2021

Powder quality, including high flowability and spherical shape, determines the properties of additively manufactured products. Therefore, the cheap production of high-quality powders is critical in additive manufacturing. Radio frequency plasma treatment is an effective method to fabricate spherical powders by melting the surface of irregularly shaped powders; in the present work, mechanically milled Zr powders are spheroidized by radio frequency plasma treatment and their properties are compared with those of commercial Zircaloy-2 alloy powder. Spherical Zr particles are successfully fabricated by plasma treatment, although their flowability and impurity contents are poorer than those of the commercial Zircaloy-2 alloy powder. This result shows that radio-frequency plasma treatment with mechanically milled powders requires further research and development for manufacturing low-cost powders for additive manufacturing.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.307-307
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• 2013

초고집적 회로에 적용되는 반도체 소자의critical dimension (CD)이 수 nano 사이즈로 줄어들고 있기 때문에, 다양한 물질의 식각을 할 때, 건식식각의 중요성이 더 강조되고 있다. 특히 $SiO_2$와 같은 유전체 물질을 식각할 때, plasma process induced damages (P2IDs)가 관찰되어 왔고, 이러한 P2IDs를 줄이기 위해, pulsed-time modulation plasma가 광범위하게 연구되어 왔다. Pulsed plasma는 정기적으로 radio frequency (RF) power on과 off를 반복하여 rf power가 off된 동안, 평균전자 온도를 낮춤으로써, 웨이퍼로 입사되는 전하 축적을 효과적으로 줄일 수 있다. 또한 fluorocarbon plasmas를 사용하여 $SiO_2$를 식각하기 위해 Dual-Frequency Capacitive coupled plasma (DF-CCP)도 널리 연구되어 왔는데, 이것은 기존의 방법과는 다르게 plasma 밀도와 ion bombardment energy를 독립적으로 조절 가능하다는 장점이 있어서 미세 패턴을 식각할 때 효과적이다. 본 연구에서는 Source power에는 60 MHz pulsed radio frequency (RF)를, bias power에는 2 MHz continuous wave (CW) rf power가 사용된 system에서 Ar/$C_4$ F8/$O_2$ 가스 조합으로, amorphous carbon layer (ACL)가 hard mask로 사용된 $SiO_2$를 식각했다. 그리고 source pulse의 duty ratio와 pulse frequency의 효과에 따른 $SiO_2$의 식각특성을 연구하였다. 그 결과, duty ratio의 감소에 따라 $SiO_2$, ACL의 etch rate이 감소했지만, $SiO_2$/ACL의 etch selectivity는 증가하였다. 반면에 pulse frequency의 변화에 따른 두 물질의 etch selectivity는 크게 변화가 없었다. 그 이유는 pulse 조건인 duty ratio의 감소가 전자 온도 및 전자 에너지를 낮춰 $C_2F8$가스의 분해를 감소시켰으며, 이로 인해 식각된 $SiO_2$의 surface와 sidewall에 fluorocarbon polymer의 형성이 증가하였기 때문이다. 또한 duty ratio의 감소에 따라 etch selectivity뿐만 아니라 etch profile까지 향상되는 것을 확인할 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.401-409
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• 2013

Numerical analysis on RF (Radio-Frequency) thermal plasma treatment of micro-sized Ni metal was carried out to understand the synthesis mechanism of nano-sized Ni powder by RF thermal plasma. For this purpose, the behaviors of Ni metal particles injected into RF plasma torch were investigated according to their diameters ($1{\sim}100{\mu}m$), RF input power (6 ~ 12 kW) and the flow rates of carrier gases (2 and 5 slpm). From the numerical results, it is predicted firstly that the velocities of carrier gases need to be minimized because the strong injection of carrier gas can cool down the central column of RF thermal plasma significantly, which is used as a main path for RF thermal plasma treatment of micro-sized Ni metal. In addition, the residence time of the injected particles in the high temperature region of RF thermal plasma is found to be also reduced in proportion to the flow rate of the carrier gas In spite of these effects of carrier gas velocities, however, calculation results show that a Ni metal particle even with the diameter of $100{\mu}m$ can be completely evaporated at relatively low power level of 10 kW during its flight of RF thermal plasma torch (< 10 ms) due to the relatively low melting point and high thermal conductivity. Based on these observations, nano-sized Ni metal powders are expected to be produced efficiently by a simple treatment of micro-sized Ni metal using RF thermal plasmas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.179-179
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• 2012

Low pressure radio-frequency glow discharges are investigated using theoretical modeling and various experimental diagnostic methods. In the calculations, global models and transformer models are developed to understand the chemical kinetics as well as the electrical properties such as the effective collision frequency, the heating mechanism and the power transferred to the plasma electrons. In addition, Boltzmann equation solver is used to compensate the effect of the electron energy distribution function (EEDF) shape in the global model, and the general expression of energy balance for non-Maxwellian electrons is developed. In the experiments, a number of traditional plasma diagnostic methods are used to compare with calculated results such as Langmuir probe, optical emission spectroscopy (OES), optical absorption spectroscopy (OAS) and two-photon absorption laser-induced fluorescence (TALIF). These theoretical and experimental methods are applied to understand several interesting phenomena in low pressure ICP discharges. The chemical and physical properties of low pressure ICP discharges are described and the applications of these methods are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.8 no.3B
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• pp.368-375
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• 1999

The Maxwell equation and the transformer equivalent-circuit model are applied to a radio frequency planar inductively coupled plasma. The spatial distribution of the vector potential, the magnetic field, and the electric field are obtained analytically. As a result, the plasma current, the mutual inductance between the coil and the plasma, and the self inductance of plasma are found to increase with increasing skin depth. The spatial distribution of absorbed power has maximum where the antenna coil exists, and has a similar profile to that of the induced electric field. The power transfer efficiency is found to increase with increasing gas pressure before a saturation around p+ 20mTorr, while it shows an increase with the plasma density before a slight decrease around a density of $5\times10^{11}/\textrm{cm}^3$.

• 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.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.157.1-157
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• 2001

A new methodology is presented to diagnose faults in equipment plasma. This is accomplished by using neural networks as a pattern recognizer of radio frequency(rf) impedance match data. Using a realtime match monitor system, the match data were collected. The monitor system consisted mainly of a multifunction board and a signal flow diagram coded by Visual Designer. Plasma anomaly was effectively represented by electrical match positions. Twenty sets of fault-symptom patterns were experimentally simulated with experimental variations in process factors, which include rf source power, pressure, Ar and O$_2$ flow rates. As the inputs to neural networks, two means and standard deviations of positions were used ...