• Membrane Journal
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.317-324
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• 2008

Polysulfone membranes were prepared via the phase inversion process. With propionic acid as a nonsolvent additive, polysulfone casting solutions were solidified in an isopropanol bath. Propionic acid (PA) worked as a thermodynamic enhancer for phase separation and as a rheological suppressor for kinetic hindrance. Morphology of the prepared membranes significantly varied with propionic acid content in the casting solution. The dense skin layer, which was identified in the membrane prepared without PA, almost disappeared in the membrane prepared trom PA 10wt%. With 30wt% PA, the membrane revealed the morphological gradient from a nodular skin structure to a sponge-like substructure, including the finger-like cavity. Water permeability increased with PA content, and polyethylene glycol rejection decreased with the nonsolvent content.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.100-101
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• 2012

The plasma damage free and room temperature processedthin film deposition technology is essential for realization of various next generation organic microelectronic devices such as flexible AMOLED display, flexible OLED lighting, and organic photovoltaic cells because characteristics of fragile organic materials in the plasma process and low glass transition temperatures (Tg) of polymer substrate. In case of directly deposition of metal oxide thin films (including transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS)) on the organic layers, plasma damages against to the organic materials is fatal. This damage is believed to be originated mainly from high energy energetic particles during the sputtering process such as negative oxygen ions, reflected neutrals by reflection of plasma background gas at the target surface, sputtered atoms, bulk plasma ions, and secondary electrons. To solve this problem, we developed the NBAS (Neutral Beam Assisted Sputtering) process as a plasma damage free and room temperature processed sputtering technology. As a result, electro-optical properties of NBAS processed ITO thin film showed resistivity of $4.0{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}m$ and high transmittance (>90% at 550 nm) with nano- crystalline structure at room temperature process. Furthermore, in the experiment result of directly deposition of TCO top anode on the inverted structure OLED cell, it is verified that NBAS TCO deposition process does not damages to the underlying organic layers. In case of deposition of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) thin film on the plastic polymer substrate, the room temperature processed sputtering coating of high quality TCO thin film is required. During the sputtering process with higher density plasma, the energetic particles contribute self supplying of activation & crystallization energy without any additional heating and post-annealing and forminga high quality TCO thin film. However, negative oxygen ions which generated from sputteringtarget surface by electron attachment are accelerated to high energy by induced cathode self-bias. Thus the high energy negative oxygen ions can lead to critical physical bombardment damages to forming oxide thin film and this effect does not recover in room temperature process without post thermal annealing. To salve the inherent limitation of plasma sputtering, we have been developed the Magnetic Field Shielded Sputtering (MFSS) process as the high quality oxide thin film deposition process at room temperature. The MFSS process is effectively eliminate or suppress the negative oxygen ions bombardment damage by the plasma limiter which composed permanent magnet array. As a result, electro-optical properties of MFSS processed ITO thin film (resistivity $3.9{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$, transmittance 95% at 550 nm) have approachedthose of a high temperature DC magnetron sputtering (DMS) ITO thin film were. Also, AOS (a-IGZO) TFTs fabricated by MFSS process without higher temperature post annealing showed very comparable electrical performance with those by DMS process with $400^{\circ}C$ post annealing. They are important to note that the bombardment of a negative oxygen ion which is accelerated by dc self-bias during rf sputtering could degrade the electrical performance of ITO electrodes and a-IGZO TFTs. Finally, we found that reduction of damage from the high energy negative oxygen ions bombardment drives improvement of crystalline structure in the ITO thin film and suppression of the sub-gab states in a-IGZO semiconductor thin film. For realization of organic flexible electronic devices based on plastic substrates, gas barrier coatings are required to prevent the permeation of water and oxygen because organic materials are highly susceptible to water and oxygen. In particular, high efficiency flexible AMOLEDs needs an extremely low water vapor transition rate (WVTR) of $1{\times}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$. The key factor in high quality inorganic gas barrier formation for achieving the very low WVTR required (under ${\sim}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$) is the suppression of nano-sized defect sites and gas diffusion pathways among the grain boundaries. For formation of high quality single inorganic gas barrier layer, we developed high density nano-structured Al2O3 single gas barrier layer usinga NBAS process. The NBAS process can continuously change crystalline structures from an amorphous phase to a nano- crystalline phase with various grain sizes in a single inorganic thin film. As a result, the water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film have improved order of magnitude compared with that of conventional $Al_2O_3$ layers made by the RF magnetron sputteringprocess under the same sputtering conditions; the WVTR of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film was about $5{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2/day$ by just single layer.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.147-156
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• 2005

It is well-known that polyethersulfone (PES) has high $CO_2$ selectivity over $N_2\;(or\;CH_4)$ and excellent pressure resistance of $CO_2$ plasticization among muy commercialized engineering plastics[1-4]. Asymmetric PES hollow fiber membranes for flue gas separation were developed by dry-wet spinning technique. The dope solution consists of PES, NMP and acetone. Water and water/NMP mixtures are used in outer and inner coagulants, respectively. Gas permeation rate (i.e., permeance) and $CO_2/N_2$ selectivity were measured with pure gas, respectively and the micro-structure of hollow fiber membranes was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The effects of polymer concentration, ratio of NMP to acetone, length of air gap, evaporation condition and silicone coating were investigated on the $CO_2/N_2$ separation properties of the hollow fibers. Optimized PES hollow fiber membranes exhibited high permeance of $25\~50$ GPU and $CO_2/N_2$ selectivity of $30\~40$ at room temperature and have the apparent skin layer thickness of about $0.1\;{\mu}m$. The developed PES hollow fiber membranes, would be a good candidate suitable for the flue gas separation process.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.15-26
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• 2015

In this study, porous metal (O.D. = 10 mm, length = 10 mm, 316 L SUS, Mott Corp.) and ${\alpha}$-alumina tube (O.D. = 10 mm, length = 50 mm, Pall, German) support was modified with suspension sols, which were consisted of $3{\sim}4{\mu}m$ and 150 nm size of ${\alpha}$-alumina particle in the water or silica-zirconia colloidal sol. The porous support was fabricated by dip coating method for 5 seconds with suspension of alumina particles. After drying at $100^{\circ}C$ for 1 h, it was calcined at $550^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. It was repeated several times in order to decrease big pore on support. The surface roughness and largest pore size on the porous support was decreased by increasing coating times with $3{\sim}4{\mu}m$ size of ${\alpha}$-alumina particle and alumina coating with 150 nm size of ${\alpha}$-alumina particle served as further smoothening the surface and decreasing the pore size of the substrate. And the silica-zirconia membranes were successfully prepared on the modified porous metal and ${\alpha}$-alumina supports, and showed hydrogen permeance in the range of $1.8-8.4{\times}10^{-4}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}{\cdot}Pa^{-1}$ and $3.3-5.0{\times}10^{-5}mol{\cdot}m^{-2}{\cdot}s^{-1}{\cdot}Pa^{-1}$, respectively.