• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1448-1452
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• 2003

A scratch tester was developed to evaluate the adhesive strength at interface between thin-film and substrate(silicon wafer). Under force control, the scratch tester can measure the normal and the tangential forces simultaneously as the probe tip of the equipment approaches to the interface between thin-film and substrate of wafer. The capacity of each component of force sensor is 0.1 N ${\sim}$ 100 N. In addition, the tester can detect the signal of elastic wave from AE sensor(frequency range of 900 kHz) attached to the probe tip and evaluate the bonding strength of interface. Using the developed scratch tester, the feasibility test was performed to evaluate the adhesive strength of thin-film.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.1018-1021
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• 2003

A scratch tester was developed to evaluate the adhesive strength at interface between thin film and substrate(silicon wafer). Under force control, the scratch tester can measure the normal and the horizontal forces simultaneously as the probe tip of the equipment approaches to the interface between thin film and substrate of wafer. The capacity of each component of force sensor is 0.1 N ∼ 100 N. In addition, the tester can detect the signal of elastic wave from AE sensor(frequency range of 900 kHz) attached to the probe tip and evaluate the bonding strength of interface. Using the developed scratch tester. the feasibility test was performed to evaluate the adhesive strength of semiconductor wafer.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.2 s.257
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• pp.253-259
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• 2007

A new material tester has been developed to measure mechanical properties of thin film specimens at high temperature. It is useful for observing oxide film growth or local deformation on the surface, and for measuring creep strength. Main characteristics of the tester is as follows; First, high temperature is achieved by Joule heating generated by electricity passing through the specimen, which does not need to enclose the specimen by a furnace or a heating chamber. The exposed specimen enables one to observe the surface during the test. Because the overall size of the test rig is compact, the whole test rig can be placed in a chamber for environmental controlled tests. The loading device is from a level scales. Not only static load with fixed counter weight, but also variable load by moving counter weight controlled remotely can be applied for an ordinary creep test and creep-fatigue test, respectively. The detail of the construction, operation principle, and the specification are described. And also, an example of test result obtained using the creep tester is presented.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.3 s.180
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• pp.163-170
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• 2006

Thin films play an important role in many technological applications including microelectronic devices, magnetic storage media, MEMS and surface coatings. It is well known that a thin film's material properties can be very different front the corresponding bulk properties and thus there has been a strong need for the development of a miniature tester to measure the mechanical properties of a thin film. Two testers are designed and set up in small size of 62 mm width, 20 mm depth and 90-120 mm height to fit in a chamber of scanning electron microscope (SEM). One tester has a homemade 0.2 N load cell and a low-priced electromagnetic actuator. The other has a commercial 5 N load cell, a $52{\mu}m$ piezoelectric actuator and some novel grips. Two types of 3.5 microns thick polysilicon specimen are tested to prove the testers' applicability. The strain is measured by the two ways. Firstly, it is measured by an ISDG system in the atmosphere far the reference. Secondly, the same test is repeated in a SEM chamber to monitor the strain as an in-situ experiment. The strain is evaluated by observing the gap change between two markers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.467-470
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• 2004

Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) thin film is a semiconductor with high mechanical hardness, low friction coefficient, high chemical inertness, and optical transparency. DLC thin films have widespread applications as protective coatings and solid lubricant coatings in areas such as Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS). In this work, the wear characteristics of DLC thin films deposited on silicon substrates using a DC-magnetron sputtering system were analyzed. The wear tracks were measured with an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). To identify the sp2 and sp3 hybridization of carbon bonds and other bonds Raman spectroscopy was used. The structural information of DLC thin films was obtained with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and wear tests were conducted by using a micro-pin-on-reciprocator tester. Results showed that the wear characteristics were dependent on the sputtering conditions. The wear rate could be correlated with the bonding state of the DLC thin film.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.91-97
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• 2000

The structure and mechanical properties of TiN and TiCN thin films deposited on STD61 steel substrates by the RF-sputtering methods has been studied by using XPS, XRD, micro-hardness tester, scratch tester, and wear-resistance tester. XPS results showed that the TiCN thin film formed with chemical bonding state. The TiN thin films grew with (111) orientation having the lowest strain energy by compressive stress, whereas the TiCN thin films grew with both (111) and (200) orientation, but (200) orientation having the lowest surface energy becomes dominant as carbon contents increase. The pre-etching treatment of substrate did not affect on the preferred orientation of thin films, but it played an important role in improving mechanical properties of thin films such as the hardness, adhesion and wear- resistance. Especially, the TiCN thin films showed the superior wear resistances due to high hardness and low friction coefficient compared with TiN thin films.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.12 s.177
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• pp.28-33
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• 2005

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.365-369
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• 2004

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.477-485
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• 2005

This paper is concerned with the development of a micro tensile testing machine for optically functional materials such as single or poly crystalline silicon and nickel film. This micro tensile tester has been developed for testing various types of materials and dimensions. PZT type actuation is utilized for precise displacement control. The specifications of the PZT actuated micro tensile testers developed are as follows: the volumetric size of the tester is desktop type of 710mm' 200mm' 270mm; the maximum load capacity and the load resolution in this system are IKgf and 0.0152mgf respectively and; the full stroke and the stoke resolution of the PZT actuator are $1000{\mu}m$ and 10nm respectively. Special automatic specimen installing and setting equipment is applied in order to prevent unexpected deformation and misalignment of specimens during handling of specimens for testing. Nonlinearity of the PZT actuator is compensated to linear control input by an inverse compensation method that is proposed in this paper. The strain data is obtained by ISDG method that uses the laser interference phenomenon. To test the reliance of this micro tensile testing machine, a $200{\mu}m$ thickness nickel thin film and SCS (Single Crystalline Silicon) material that is made with the MEMS fabrication process are used.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.6 s.261
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• pp.644-650
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• 2007

Mechanical property evaluation of micrometer-sized structures is necessary to help design reliable microelectromechanical systems(MEMS) devices. Most material properties are known to exhibit dependence on specimen size and such properties of microscale structures are not well characterized. This paper describes techniques developed for tensile testing of thin film used in MEMS. Epi-polycrystalline silicon is currently the most widely used material, and its tensile strength has been measured as 1.52GPa. We have developed a tensile testing machine for testing microscale specimen using electro-magnetic actuator. The field magnet and the moving coil taken from an audio-speaker were utilized as the components of the actuator. Structure of specimen was designed and manufactured for easy handling and alignment. In addition to the static tensile tests, it is described that new techniques and procedures can be adopted for high cycle fatigue test of a thin film.