• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.542-548
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• 2012

Morphological characteristics and formation of symmetric polystyrene-block-poly(1,4-butadiene) copolymer (PS-b-PBD) in thin films upon solvent-annealing were investigated by using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The thin films solvent-annealed in cyclohexane revealed the perforated lamellae of poly(1,4-butadiene) in the matrix of polystyrene while those solvent-annealed in n-hexane exhibited highly disordered patterns. Interestingly, when the thin films of PS-b-PBD were solvent-annealed with binary mixtures of cyclohexane and n-hexane, the morphological transition from the perforated lameallae to the perpendicularly-oriented lamellae of poly(1,4-butadiene) could be induced by changing the mixing ratio of both solvents. We also demonstrated that after microdomians of poly(1,4-butadiene) were successfully degraded by UV-$O_3$, linear poly(dimethyl siloxane) chains were back-filled into the etched regions of the thin film and then converted to silica nano-objects by oxygen plasma treatments.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.1-6
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• 2017

Functional coatings, such as anti-reflection and self-cleaning, are frequently applied to cover glass for photovoltaic applications. Anti-reflection coatings made of mesoporous silica film have been shown to enhance the light transmittance. $TiO_2$ photocatalyst films are often applied as a self-cleaning coating. In this study, transparent hydrophobic anti-reflective and self-cleaning coatings made of $SiO_2/TiO_2$ thin layers were fabricated on a slide glass substrate by the sol-gel and dip-coating processes. The morphology of the functional coatings was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The optical properties of the functional coatings were investigated using an UV-visible spectrophotometer. Contact angle measurements were performed to confirm the hydrophobicity of the surface. The results showed that the $TiO_2$ films exhibit a high transmittance comparable to that of the bare slide glass substrate. The $TiO_2$ nanoparticles make the film more reflective and lead to a lower transmittance. However, the transmittance of the $SiO_2/TiO_2$ thin layers is 93.5% at 550 nm with a contact angle of $110^{\circ}$, which is higher than that of the bare slide glass (2.0%).

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.2765-2770
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• 2011

Organic dye-doped glasses, viz., ruthenium (II) tris(4,7'-diphenyl-1,10'-phenanthroline) $[Ru(dpp)_3]^{2+}$ incorporated into thin silica xerogel films produced by the sol-gel method, were prepared and their $O_2$ quenching properties investigated as a function of the $[Ru(dpp)_3]^{2+}$ concentration (3-400 ${\mu}M$) within the xerogel. The ratio of the luminescence from the $[Ru(dpp)_3]^{2+}$-doped films in the presence of $N_2$ and $O_2$ ($I_{N2}/I_{O2}$) was used to describe the film sensitivity to $O_2$ quenching. ($I_{N2}/I_{O2}$ changed three-fold over the $[Ru(dpp)_3]^{2+}$ concentration range. Time-resolved intensity decay studies showed that there are two discrete $[Ru(dpp)_3]^{2+}$ populations within the xerogels (${\tau}_1$ ~ 300 ns; ${\tau}_2$ ~ 3000 ns) whose relative fraction changes as the $[Ru(dpp)_3]^{2+}$ concentration changes. The increased $O_2$ sensitivity that is observed at the higher $[Ru(dpp)_3]^{2+}$ concentrations is a manifestation of a greater fraction of the 3000 ns $[Ru(dpp)_3]^{2+}$ species (more susceptible to $O_2$ quenching). A model is presented to describe the observed response characteristics resulting from $[Ru(dpp)_3]^{2+}$ distribution within the xerogel.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.236-241
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• 2008

The possibility of silicon oxidation through the aerial-diffusion of active oxygen species has been evaluated. The species originate from the surface of $TiO_2$ exposed by UV. Among process parameters such as UV intensity, substrate temperature and chamber pressure with oxygen, UV intensity was a major parameter to the influence on the oxide growth rate. When 1 kW high pressure Hg lamp was used as a UV source, the growth rate of silicon oxide was 8 times as faster as that of a 60 W BLB lamp. However, as the chamber pressure increased, the growth rate was declined due to the suppression of aerial diffusion of active oxygen species. According to the results, it could be confirmed that the aerial-diffusion of active oxygen species from UV-irradiated photocatalytic surface can be applied to a new method for preparing an ultra-thin silicon oxide at the range of relatively low temperature.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.109-109
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• 2010

$Er^{3+}$ ion shows a stable and efficient luminescence at 1.54mm due to its $^4I_{13/2}\;{\rightarrow}\;^4I_{15/2}$ intra-4f transition. As this corresponds to the low-loss window of silica-based optical fibers, Er-based light sources have become a mainstay of the long-distance telecom. In most telecom applications, $Er^{3+}$ ions are excited via resonant optical pumping. However, if nanocluster-Si (nc-Si) are co-doped with $Er^{3+}$, $Er^{3+}$ can be excited via energy transfer from excited electrical carriers in the nc-Si as well. This combines the broad, strong absorption band of nc-Si with narrow, stable emission spectra of $Er^{3+}$ to allow top-pumping with off-resonant, low-cost broadband light sources as well as electrical pumping. A widely used method to achieve nc-Si sensitization of $Er^{3+}$ is high-temperature annealing of Er-doped, non-stoichiometric amorphous thin film with excess Si (e.g.,silicon-rich silicon oxide(SRSO)) to precipitate nc-Si and optically activate $Er^{3+}$ at the same time. Unfortunately, such precipitation and growth of nc-Si into Er-doped oxide matrix can lead to $Er^{3+}$ clustering away from nc-Si at anneal temperatures much lower than ${\sim}1000^{\circ}C$ that is necessary for full optical activation of $Er^{3+}$ in $SiO_2$. Recently, silicon-rich silicon nitride (SRSN) was reported to be a promising alternative to SRSO that can overcome this problem of Er clustering. But as nc-Si formation and optical activation $Er^{3+}$ remain linked in Er-doped SRSN, it is not clear which mechanism is responsible for the observed improvement. In this paper, we report on investigating the effect of separating the nc-Si formation and $Er^{3+}$ activation by using hetero-multilayers that consist of nm-thin SRSO or SRSN sensitizing layers with Er-doped $SiO_2$ or $Si_3N_4$ luminescing layers.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.329-332
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• 2010

In order to investigate the effect of tail state on the electrical and the optical properties in amorphous IGZO(a-IGZO), a-IGZO films were deposited at room temperature on fused silica substrats using pulsed laser deposition method. The laser pulse energy was used as the processing parameter. In-situ post annealing was carried out at $150^{\circ}C$ right after the film deposition. The $O_2$ partial pressure during the deposition and the post annealing was fixed to 10mTorr. The carrier mobility of the a-IGZO films had a range from 2 to $18\;cm^2/Vs$ at carrier concentrations greater than $10^{18}\;cm^{-3}$. As the laser energy density increased, the Hall mobility increased. And post annealing improved the Hall mobility, as well. The optical property was examined using the ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The a-IGZO films that have low Hall mobility exhibited stronger and broader absorption tails in >3.0 eV region. Post annealing reduced the intensity of the tail-like absorption. The absorption tail in a-IGZO films is an important factor which affects the electrical and the optical properties.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.67-75
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• 2005

For th aim of lightweight microwave absorbers, conductive and magnetic microspheres are fabricated by plating of Co films on hollow ceramic microspheres of low density. Metal plating was carried out in a two-step electroless plating process (pre-treatment of activation and plating). Uniform coating of the film with about $2{\~}3{\cal}um$ thickness was identified by SEM. High-frequency magnetic and microwave absorbing properties were determined in the rubber composites containing the Co-coated microspheres. Due to conductive and ferromagnetic behavior of the Co thin films, high dielectric constant and magnetic loss can be obtained in the microwave frequencies. Due to those electromagnetic properties, high absorption rate (25 dB) and thin matching thickness ($2.0{\~}2.5{\cal}mm$) are predicted in the composite layers containing the metal-coated microspheres of low density (about 0.84 g/cc) for the electromagnetic radiation in microwave frequencies.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.174-181
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• 2007

In this study, $SiO_2/poly(ethylene-co-vinyl$ alcohol)(EVOH) hybrid coating materials with gas barrier property could be produced using sol-gel method. The biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) substrate with surface pretreatment was coated with the prepared hybrid sols containing various inorganic silicate component by a spin coating method. Crystallization behavior of the hybrids was investigated in terms of analysis of X-ray diffraction and cooling thermogram from DSC experiment. From the morphological observation of the $SiO_2/EVOH$ hybrid gel, it was confirmed that there existed an optimum content of inorganic silicate precursor, Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), to produce hybrid materials with dense microstructure, exhibiting uniformly dispersed silica particles with average size below 100 nm. When TEOS was added at below or above the optimum content, particle clusters with large domain were observed, resulting in phase separation. This morphological result was found to be in good agreement with that of oxygen permeability of the hybrid coated films. In the case of film coated with hybrid prepared from addition of 0.01 - 0.02mol of TEOS, a remarkable improvement in barrier property could be obtained, however, with the addition of TEOS more than 0.04 mol, the barrier property was dramatically reduced because of phase separation and micro-crack formation on the film surface.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.240-246
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• 2002

$TiO_2$ films on soda-lime-silica glasses were prepared by spin coating-pyrolysis process using titanium naphthenate as a starting material. As-deposited films were pyrolyzed at $500^{\circ}C$ for 10 min in air and annealed at 500, 550 and $600^{\circ}C$ for 30 min in air. Crystallinity of the film was investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis. A field emission-scanning electron microscope and an atomic force microscope were used for characterizing the surface morphology and the surface roughness of the film. After annealing at 550 and $600^{\circ}C$, the X-ray diffraction patterns consist of only anatase peak. Films annealed at 500 and $550^{\circ}C$ exhibited flat surfaces. While with the increase in annealing temperature to $600^{\circ}C$, the $TiO_2$ film showed abnormal growth of three-dimensional needle-shaped grains. For all samples, high transmittance, above 90 % at 500 nm, was obtained at visible range. To investigate photocatalytic properties, IR absorbance associated with the C-H stretching vibrations of a thin solution-cast film of stearic acid under 365 nm (2.4 mW/$\textrm{cm}^2$) UV irradiation was estimated.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.705-710
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• 2015

The fabrication process of thin boron-doped nanocrystalline diamond (B-NCD) microelectrodes on fused silica single mode optical fiber cladding has been investigated. The B-NCD films were deposited on the fibers using Microwave Plasma Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition (MW PA CVD) at glass substrate temperature of 475 ℃. We have obtained homogenous, continuous and polycrystalline surface morphology with high sp³ content in B-NCD films and mean grain size in the range of 100-250 nm. The films deposited on the glass reference samples exhibit high refractive index (n=2.05 at λ=550 nm) and low extinction coefficient. Furthermore, cyclic voltammograms (CV) were recorded to determine the electrochemical window and reaction reversibility at the B-NCD fiber-based electrode. CV measurements in aqueous media consisting of 5 mM K₃[Fe(CN)₆] in 0.5 M Na₂SO₄ demonstrated a width of the electrochemical window up to 1.03 V and relatively fast kinetics expressed by a redox peak splitting below 500 mV. Moreover, thanks to high-n B-NCD overlay, the coated fibers can be also used for enhancing the sensitivity of long-period gratings (LPGs) induced in the fiber. The LPG is capable of measuring variations in refractive index of the surrounding liquid by tracing the shift in resonance appearing in the transmitted spectrum. Possible combined CV and LPG-based measurements are discussed in this work.