• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.125-132
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• 2012

The dehydration schemes of rare earth (La, Ce, Nd, Pr, Sm. Eu, Gd, Y) chloride hydrates was investigated by using a dehydration apparatus. To prevent the formation of the rare earth oxychlorides, the operation temperature was changed step by step ($80{\rightarrow}150{\rightarrow}230^{\circ}C$) based on the TGA (thermo-gravimetric analysis) results of the rare earth chloride hydrates. A vacuum pump and preheated Ar gas were used to effectively remove the evaporated moisture and maintain an inert condition in the dehydration apparatus. The dehydration temperature of the rare earth chloride hydrate was increased when the atomic number of the rare earth nuclide was increased. The content of the moisture in the rare earth chloride hydrate was decreased below 10% in the dehydration apparatus.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.312-312
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• 2011

In SiH4/H2 discharge for growth process of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), silane polymers, produced by SiH2 + Sin-1H2n ${\rightarrow}$ SinH2n+2, have no reactivity on the film-growing surface. However, under the SiH2 rich condition, high silane reactive species (HSRS) can be produced by electron collision to silane polymers. HSRS, having relatively strong reactivity on the surface, can react with dangling bond and form Si-H2 networks which have a close correlation with photo-induced degradation of a-Si:H thin film solar cell [1]. To find contributions of suggested several external plasma conditions (pressure, frequency and ratio of mixture gas) [2,3] to suppressing productions of HSRS, some plasma characteristics are studied by numerical methods. For this study, a zero-dimensional global model for SiH4/H2 discharge and a one-dimensional particle-in-cell Monte-Carlo-collision model (PIC-MCC) for pure SiH4 discharge have been developed. Densities of important reactive species of SiH4/H2 discharge are observed by means of the global model, dealing 30 species and 136 reactions, and electron energy probability functions (EEPFs) of pure SiH4 discharge are obtained from the PIC-MCC model, containing 5 charged species and 15 reactions. Using global model, SiH2/SiH3 values were calculated when pressure and driving frequency vary from 0.1 Torr to 10 Torr, from 13.56 MHz to 60 MHz respectively and when the portion of hydrogen changes. Due to the limitation of global model, frequency effects can be explained by PIC-MCC model. Through PIC-MCC model for pure SiH4, EEPFs are obtained in the specific range responsible for forming SiH2 and SiH3: from 8.75 eV to 9.47 eV [4]. Through densities of reactive species and EEPFs, polymerization reactions and production of HSRS are discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.487-487
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• 2011

Recently graphene has emerged as a fascinating 2D system in condensed-matter physics as well as a new material for the development of nanotechnology. The unusual electronic band structure of graphene allows it to exhibit a strong ambipolar electric field effect with high mobility. These properties lead to the possibility of its application in high-performance transparent conducting films (TCFs). Compared to indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes, which have a typical sheet resistance of ${\sim}60{\Omega}$/sq and ~85 % transmittance in the visible range (400?900 nm), the CVD-grown graphene electrodes have a higher/flatter transmittance in the visible to IR region and are more robust under bending. Nevertheless, the lowest sheet resistance of the currently available CVD graphene electrodes is higher than that of ITO. Here, we report an ingenious strategy, irradiation of MeV electron beam (e-beam) at room temperature under ambient condition, for obtaining size-homogeneous gold nanoparticle decorated on graphene. The nano-particlization promoted by MeV e-beam irradiation was investigated by transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy elemental mapping, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. These results clearly revealed that gold nanoparticle with 10 ~ 15 nm in mean size were decorated along the surface of the graphene after 1.5 MeV-e-beam irradiation. A chemical transformation and charge transfer for the metal gold nanoparticle were systematically explored by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. This approach advances the numerous applications of graphene films as transparent conducting electrodes.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2013

For the simplification of doping process in amorphous carbon film, arsenic (As) ions were implanted on the nucleated silicon wafer before the growth process. Then amorphous carbon films were grown at the condition of $CH_4/H_2=5%$ by microwave plasma chemical vapour deposition. Because the implanted seeds were grown at the high temperature and the implanted ions were spread, it was possible to reduce the process steps by leaving out the annealing process. When the implanted amorphous carbon films were electrically characterized in diode configuration, field emission current of $0.1mA/cm^2$ was obtained at the applied electric field of about $2.5V/{\mu}m$. The results show that the implanted As ions were sufficiently doped by the self-annealing process by using the growth after implantation.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.204-210
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• 2008

ZnO thin films were grown on a glass by RF sputtering system with RF power 100W and oxygen partial pressure of $0%{/sim}30%$. Elliptic constants were measured by using a phase modulated spectroscopic ellipsometer and analyzed with the Tauc-Lorentz dispersion formula and best fit method in the range of 1.5 to 3.8eV. Also, scanning electron microscope(SEM) was used for the analysis of surface crystallization condition. From elliptic constants spectra, optical constants, thickness and roughness of ZnO films were evaluated. Total thickness of ZnO films obtained by ellipsometry showed good agreement with SEM data. It was found that the grain size of the films were getting smaller with increasing oxygen partial pressure. Band-gap of ZnO films increase with the oxygen partial pressure. These findings clearly indicate that optical properties of ZnO films are strongly dependent on the oxygen partial pressure. It could be explained that increasing the oxygen partial pressure induced high crystalline imperfection in the ZnO films.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 1999

Total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation source called as TRSFA was explored to achieve high sensitivities to impurity metals on Si wafer surface. It consists of monochromating part to select a specific wavelength, slit part to shield direct beam and to control monochromated beam, and main chamber to dectect fluorescent X-ray counts of impurities on si wafer. Monochromated X-ray of 10.90 KeV was selected and the optimum total reflection condition on silicon wafer was obtained through tuning the dead time and fluorescent X-ray count of Si and Fe. TRSFA system could increase the sensitivity as high as 50 times in comparision with TRXFA using normal X-ray source. But the trend was varied since the surface conditions of Si wafers and, therefore, the reflectivities were different. Furthemore, there seems to be a promising path to reaching a detection limit useful to the next generation metal impurities control, because Fe impurity below to the $5\times10^{9}\textrm{atomas/cm}^2$ can be detectable through the developed TRSFA system.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.36-42
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• 1999

Field emission behaviors from diamond-like carbon films were investigated. The films were deposited on n-type Si wafer by ion beam sputtering method using 3 cm Kaufman type ion source. Regardless of the film thicknesses and atomic bond structure, the emission current was much enhanced by electrical breakdown between anode and the film surface. The effective work function was estimated to be about 0.1 eV. In order to identify the emission site, tungsten tip was scanned the damaged region damaged region but localized to a specific site. Analysis using Auger electron spectroscopy and SEM shows that SiC compound was not a sufficient condition for the electron emission. This result showed that the enhanced emission was mainly due to the changes in the chemical bond of the damaged region rather than the enhanced electric field caused by the morphological change.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.75-82
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• 1999

Ion energy is one of the crucial property in thin film deposition by internal ICP assisted I-PVD. As ion energy is determined by the difference between the plasma potential and the substrate bias potential, ICP excitation frequency was tested with medium frequency of 4 MHz and two types of tuning circuits, alternate and floating LC network with a biasing resistor, were tested. The results showed that plasma potential was less than 5 V in a range of Ar pressures, 5mTorr to 30 mTorr, at 4 MHz RF 600 W and 60 V of maximum RF antenna voltage was maintained either at RF input or output terminal. By proper control of RLC circuit installed after after RF antenna, 50V of RF induced voltage on RF antenna was obtained at 500W input power. The total impedance of RF antenna and plasma was around 10$\Omega$, and minimum RF voltage was obtained with a condition of lowest reactance at most 0.05$\Omega$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.183-183
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• 2011

Multiferroic materials have been widely studied in recent years, because of their abundant physics and potential applications in the sensors, data storage, and spintronics. $BiFeO_3$ is one of the well-known single-phase multiferroic materials with $ABO_3$ structure and G-type antiferromagnetic behavior below the Neel temperature $T_N$ ~ 643 K, but the ferroelectric behavior below the Curie temperature $T_c$~1,103 K. In this study, the $BiFe_{1-x}Ni_xO_3$ (x=0 and 0.05) bulk ceramics were prepared by solid-state reaction and rapid sintering with high-purity $Bi_2O_32$, $Fe_3O_4$ and NiO powders. The powders of stoichiometric proportions were mixed, as in the previous investigations, and calcined at 450$^{\circ}C$ for $BiFe_{1-x}Ni_xO_3$ for 24 h. The obtained powders were grinded, and pressed into 5-mm-thick disks of 1/2-inch diameter. The disks were directly put into the oven, which has been heated up to 800$^{\circ}C$ and sintered in air for 20 min. The sintered disks were taken out from the oven and cooled to room temperature within several min. The phase of samples was checked at room temperature by powder x-ray diffraction using a Rigaku Miniflex diffractometer with Cu K${\alpha}$ radiation. The Raman measurements were carried out by employing a hand-made Raman spectrometer with 514.5-nm-excitation $Ar^+$ laser source under air ambient condition on a focused area of 1-${\mu}m$ diameter. The field-dependent magnetization measurements were performed with a superconducting quantum-interference-device magnetometer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.87-87
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• 2011

Oxide semiconductors are attractive materials for thin-film electronics and optoelectronics due to compatibility with synthesis on large-area, glass and flexible substrate. However, development of thin-film electronics has been hampered by the limited number of semiconducting oxides that are p-type. We report on the effect of the oxygen partial pressure ratio in the gas mixture on the electrical and optical properties of spinel Mg:$ZnCo_2O_4$ thin films deposited at room temperature using RF sputtering, that exhibit p-type conduction. The thin-films are deposited at room temperature in a background of oxygen using a polycrystalline Mg:$ZnCo_2O_4$ ablation target. The p-type conduction is confirmed by positive Seebeck coefficient and positive Hall coefficient. The electrical resistivity and carrier concentration in on dependent Mg:$ZnCo_2O_4$ thin films were found to be dependent on the oxygen partial pressure ratio. As a result, it is revealed that the Mg:$ZnCo_2O_4$ thin-films were greatly influenced on the electrical and optical properties by the oxygen partial pressure condition. The visible region of the spectrum of 36~85%, and hole mobility of 1.1~3.7 $cm^2$/Vs, were obtained.