• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.87-96
• /
• 2004

Studies were conducted to select the candidate buffer material for a high-level waste (HLW) repository in Korea. This paper presents the hydraulic properties, the swelling properties, the thermal properties, and the mechanical properties as well as the radionuclide release-retarding capacity of Kyungju bentonite as part of those studies. Experimental results showed that the hydraulic conductivities of the compacted bentonite were very low and less than $10^{-11}$m/s. The values decreased with increasing the dry density of the compacted bentonite. The swelling pressures were in the range of 0.66 MPa to 14.4 ㎫ and they increased with increasing the dry density. The thermal conductivities were in the range of 0.80 ㎉/m $h^{\circ}C$ to 1.52 ㎉/m $h^{\circ}C$. The unconfined compressive strength, Young's modulus and Poison's ratio showed the range of 0.55 ㎫ to 8.83 ㎫, 59 ㎫ to 1275 ㎫, and 0.05 to 0.20, respectively, when the dry densities of the compacted bentonite were 1.4 Ms/㎥ to 1.8 Mg/㎥. The diffusion coefficients in the compacted bentonite were measured under an oxidizing condition. The values were $1.7{\times}10^{-10}$m^2$/s to 3.4{\times}10^{-10}$m^2$/s for electrically neutral tritium (H-3), 8.6{\times}10^{-14}$m^2$/s to 1.3{\times}10^{-12}$m^2$/s for cations (Cs, Sr, Ni), 1.2{\times}10^{-11}$m^2$/s to 9.5{\times}10^{-11}$m^2$/s for anions (I, Tc), and 3.0{\times}10^{-14} $m^2$/s to 1.8{\times}10^{-13}$m^2$/s $for actinides (U, Am), when tile dry densities were in the range of 1.2 Mg/㎥ to 1.8 Mg/㎥. The obtained results will be used in assessing the barrier properties of Kyungju bentonite as a buffer material of a repository in Korea.n Korea.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.61-67
• /
• 2009

Electrolessly deposited Co (Re,P) was investigated as a possible capping layer for Cu wires. 50 nm Co (Re,P) films were deposited on Cu/Ti-coated silicon wafers which acted as a catalytic seed and an adhesion layer, respectively. To obtain the optimized bath composition, electroless deposition was studied through an electrochemical approach via a linear sweep voltammetry analysis. The results of using this method showed that the best deposition conditions were a $CoSO_4$ concentration of 0.082 mol/l, a solution pH of 9, a $KReO_4$ concentration of 0.0003 mol/l and sodium hypophosphite concentration of 0.1 mol/L at $80^{\circ}C$. The thermal stability of the Co (Re,P) layer as a barrier preventing Cu was evaluated using Auger electron spectroscopy and a Scanning calorimeter. The measurement results showed that Re impurities stabilized the h.c.p. phase up to $550^{\circ}C$ and that the Co (Re,P) film efficiently blocked Cu diffusion under an annealing temperature of $400^{\circ}C$ for 1hr. The good barrier properties that were observed can be explained by the nano-sized grains along with the blocking effect of the impurities at the fast diffusion path of the grain boundaries. The transformation temperature from the amorphous to crystal structure is increased by doping the Re.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2012.02a
• /
• pp.377-377
• /
• 2012

Microprocessor technology now relies on copper for most of its electrical interconnections. Because of the high diffusivity of copper, Atomic layer deposition (ALD) $TaN_x$ is used as a diffusion barrier to prevent copper diffusion into the Si or $SiO_2$. Another problem with copper is that it has weak adhesion to most materials. Strong adhesion to copper is an essential characteristic for the new barrier layer because copper films prepared by electroplating peel off easily in the damascene process. Thus adhesion-enhancing layer of cobalt is placed between the $TaN_x$ and the copper. Because, cobalt has strong adhesion to the copper layer and possible seedless electro-plating of copper. Until now, metal film has generally been deposited by physical vapor deposition. However, one draw-back of this method is poor step coverage in applications of ultralarge-scale integration metallization technology. Metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) is a good approach to address this problem. In addition, the MOCVD method has several advantages, such as conformal coverage, uniform deposition over large substrate areas and less substrate damage. For this reasons, cobalt films have been studied using MOCVD and various metal-organic precursors. In this study, we used $C_{12}H_{10}O_6(Co)_2$ (dicobalt hexacarbonyl tert-butylacetylene, CCTBA) as a cobalt precursor because of its high vapor pressure and volatility, a liquid state and its excellent thermal stability under normal conditions. Furthermore, the cobalt film was also deposited at various $H_2/NH_3$ gas ratio(1, 1:1,2,6,8) producing pure cobalt thin films with excellent conformality. Compared to MOCVD cobalt using $H_2$ gas as a reactant, the cobalt thin film deposited by MOCVD using $H_2$ with $NH_3$ showed a low roughness, a low resistivity, and a low carbon impurity. It was found that Co/$TaN_x$ film can achieve a low resistivity of $90{\mu}{\Omega}-cm$, a low root-mean-square roughness of 0.97 nm at a growth temperature of $150^{\circ}C$ and a low carbon impurity of 4~6% carbon concentration.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.57-62
• /
• 2012

Aqueous poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) solution was modified by using hydrophobic vinyltriethoxysilane (VTEOS) and then adding different amounts of poly (acrylic acid) (PAA) to the resulting solution. Thermal and mechanical properties, contact angle, water vapor transmission rate (MVTR) and oxygen gas transmission rate ($O_2TR$) of the film samples fabricated by these solutions were investigated. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of the VTEOS-modified films was sightly increased and the value remained unchanged according to the amount of PAA. The tensile strength of the VTEOS-modified films was found to be 9.48~10.72 $kg/mm^2$ which showed no significant difference compared with that of PVA. The film prepared with VTEOS-modified PVA/PAA (= 90/10), of which the swelling and solubility were measured to be 198% and 0%, respectively, showed improved water-resistance. The MVTR and $O_2TR$ for the PET film (thickness 50 ${\mu}m$) coated with VTEOS-modified PVA/PAA (= 90/10) film (thickness 2.5 ${\mu}m$) were measured to be 11.04 $g/m^2/day$ and 3.1 $cc/m^2/day$, respectively.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.31 no.6
• /
• pp.400-414
• /
• 2021

Under high-level radioactive waste repository conditions, bentonite as an engineered barrier material undergoes thermal, hydrological, mechanical, and chemical processes. We report the applications of X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) imaging technique on the characterization and analysis of bentonite over the past decade to provide a reference of the utilization of this technique and the recent research trends. This overview of the X-ray CT technique applications includes the characterization of the bentonite either in pellets or powder form. X-ray imaging has provided a means to extract grain information at the microscale and identify crack networks responsible for the pellets' heterogeneity. Regarding samples of pellets-powder mixtures under hydration, X-ray CT allowed the identification and monitoring of heterogeneous zones throughout the test. Some results showed how zones with pellets only swell faster compared to others composed of pellets and powder. Moreover, the behavior of fissures between grains and bentonite matrix was observed to change under drying and hydrating conditions, tending to close during the former and open during the latter. The development of specializing software has allowed obtaining strain fields from a sequence of images. In more recent works, X-ray CT technique has served to estimate the dry density, water content, and particle displacement at different testing times. Also, when temperature was added to the hydration process of a sample, CT technology offered a way to observe localized and global density changes over time.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.45-50
• /
• 2022

Ga₂O₃ thin films were grown on n-type Si substrates at various growth temperatures of 500, 550, 600, 650 and 700℃. The Ga₂O₃ thin films grown at 500℃ and 550℃ were characterized as featureless flat surface. Grown at higher temperatures (600, 650, and 700℃) showed very rough surface morphology. To figure out the annealing effect on the thin films grown at relatively low temperatures (500, 550, 600, 650 and 700℃), the Ga₂O₃ films were thermally treated at 900℃ for 10 minutes. Crystal structure of the Ga₂O₃ films grown at 500 and 550℃ were changed from amorphous to polycrystalline structure with flat surface. Ga₂O₃ film grown at 550℃ was chosen for the fabrication of a Schottky barrier diode (SBD). Electrical properties of the SBDs depend on the thermal treatment were evaluated. A MSM type photodetector was made on the low temperature grown Ga₂O₃ thin film. The photocurrent for the illumination of 266 nm wavelength showed 5.32 times higher than dark current at the operating voltage of 10 V.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
• /
• v.6 no.3
• /
• pp.217-224
• /
• 2008

In deep geological disposal system, the integrity of a disposal canister having spent fuels is very important factor to assure the safety of the repository system. This disposal canister is one element of the engineered barriers to isolate and to delay the radioactivity release from human beings and the environment for a long time so that the toxicity does not affect the environment. The main requirement in designing the deep geological disposal system is to keep the buffer temperature below 100$^{\circ}C$ by the decay heat from the spent fuels in the canister in order to maintain the integrity of the buffer material. Also, the disposal canister can endure the hydraulic pressure in the depth of 500 m and the swelling pressure of the bentonite as a buffer. In this study, new concept of the disposal canister for the CANDU spent fuels which were considered to be disposed without any treatment was developed and the thermal stability and the structural integrity of the canister were analysed. The result of the thermal analysis showed that the temperature of the buffer was 88.9$^{\circ}C$ when 37 years have passed after emplacement of the canister and the spacings of the disposal tunnel and the deposition holes were 40 m and 3 m, respectively. In the case of structural analysis, the result showed that the safety factors of the normal and the extreme environment were 2.9 and 1.33, respectively. So, these results reveal that the canister meets the thermal and the structural requirements in the deep geological disposal system.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.60-63
• /
• 2012

Enhancement of efficiency and luminance of organic light-emitting diodes was investigated by the introduction of a lithium carbonate ($Li_2CO_3$) electron-injection layer. Electron-injection layer is used in organic light-emitting diodes to inject electrons efficiently between a cathode and an organic layer. A device structure of ITO/TPD (40 nm)/$Alq_3$ (60 nm)/$Li_2CO_3$ (x nm)/Al (100 nm) was manufactured by thermal evaporation, where the thickness of $Li_2CO_3$ layer was varied from 0 to 3.3 nm. Current density-luminance-voltage characteristics of the device were measured and analyzed. When the thickness of $Li_2CO_3$ layer is 0.7 nm, the current efficiency and luminance of the device at 8.0 V are improved by a factor of about 18 and 3,000 compared to the ones without the $Li_2CO_3$ layer, respectively. The enhancement of efficiency and luminance of the device with an insertion of $Li_2CO_3$ electron-injection layer is thought to be due to the lowering of an electron barrier height at the interface region between the cathode and the emissive layer. This is judged from an analysis of current density-voltage characteristics with a Fowler-Nordheim tunneling conduction mechanism model. In a study of lifetime of the device that depends on the thickness of $Li_2CO_3$ layer, the optimum thickness of $Li_2CO_3$ layer was obtained to be 1.1 nm. It is thought that an improvement in the lifetime is due to the prevention of moisture and oxygen by $Li_2CO_3$ layer. Thus, from the efficiency and lifetime of the device, we have obtained the optimum thickness of $Li_2CO_3$ layer to be about 1.0 nm.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2016.02a
• /
• pp.291.1-291.1
• /
• 2016

Graphene by one of the two-dimensional (2D) materials has been focused on electronic applications due to its ultrahigh carrier mobility, outstanding thermal conductivity and superior optical properties. Although graphene has many remarkable properties, graphene devices have low on/off current ratio due to its zero bandgap. Despite considerable efforts to open its bandgap, it's hard to obtain appropriate improvements. To solve this problem, heterojunction barristor was proposed based on graphene. Mostly, this heterojunction barristor is made by transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), such as molybdenum disulfide ($MoS_2$) and tungsten diselenide ($WSe_2$), which have extremely thickness scalability of TMDs. The heterojunction barristor has the advantage of controlling graphene's Fermi level by applying gate bias, resulting in barrier height modulation between graphene interface and semiconductor. However, charged impurities between graphene and $SiO_2$ cause unexpected p-type doping of graphene. The graphene's Fermi level modulation is expected to be reduced due to this p-doping effect. Charged impurities make carrier mobility in graphene reduced and modulation of graphene's Fermi level limited. In this paper, we investigated theoretically and experimentally a relevance between graphene's Fermi level and p-type doping. Theoretically, when Fermi level is placed at the Dirac point, larger graphene's Fermi level modulation was calculated between -20 V and +20 V of $V_{GS}$. On the contrary, graphene's Fermi level modulation was 0.11 eV when Fermi level is far away from the Dirac point in the same range. Then, we produced two types heterojunction barristors which made by p-type doped graphene and graphene treated 2.4% APTES, respectively. On/off current ratio (32-fold) of graphene treated 2.4% APTES was improved in comparison with p-type doped graphene.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.7 no.5
• /
• pp.813-822
• /
• 1996

In order to reduce carbon dioxide, one of the major greenhouse gases, a new type of copolymer, poly(alkylene carbonate) has been synthesized. The alternating copolymers have been obtained from carbon dioxide and various epoxides with zinc carboxylate as a catalyst. The number-average molecular weight of the polymer is about 50,000 and polydispersity is rather broad(5~10). The polymers are amorphous, and glass-clear materials that exhibit unusually facile and clean thermal decomposition behavior. Complete decomposition with no carbon residue is observed at elevated temperature even in an inert atmosphere. Terpolymers with bulkier epoxides improve the physical properties of the copolymer with simple epoxides. The decomposition properties of the polymer provide versatile applications such as ceramic, metal, and electronic binders and lost-foam casting. Further application of the polymer for the barrier film or the plasticizer will be investigated.