• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.1-4
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• 2003

The etching of Au thin films has been performed in an inductively coupled $CF_4 / Cl_2 / Ar$ plasma. The etch properties including etch rate and selectivity were examined as $CF_4$ content adds from o to $30\%$ to $Cl_2/Ar$ plasma. The $Cl_2/(Cl_2 + Ar)$ gas mixing ratio was fixed at $20\%$. Other parameters were fixed at an rf power of 700 W, a dc bias voltage of -150 V, a chamber pressure of 15 mTorr, and a substrate temperature of $30^{\circ}C$. The highest etch rate of the Au thin film was 370 nm/min at a $10\%$ additive $CF_4$ into $Cl_2/Ar$ gas mixture. The surface reaction of the etched Au thin films was investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The XPS analysis shows that the intensities of Ail peaks are changed, indicating that there is a chemical reaction between Cl and Au. Au-Cl is hard to remove on the surface because of its high melting point. However, etching products can be sputtered by Ar ion bombardment.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.3395-3399
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• 2011

Copper oxide thin films were synthesized by reactive radio frequency magnetron sputtering at different oxygen gas ratios. The chemical and physical properties of the thin films were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). XPS results revealed that the dominant oxidation states of Cu were $Cu^0$ and $Cu^+$ at 0% oxygen ratio. When the oxygen ratios increased above 5%, Cu was oxidized as CuO as detected by X-ray induced Auger electron spectroscopy and the $Cu(OH)_2$ phase was confirmed independent of the oxygen ratio. The valence band maxima were $1.19{\pm}0.09$ eV and an increase in the density of states was confirmed after formation of CuO. The thickness and roughness of copper oxide thin films decreased with increasing oxygen ratio. The crystallinity of the copper oxide films changed from cubic Cu through cubic $Cu_2O$ to monoclinic CuO with mean crystallite sizes of 8.8 nm (Cu) and 16.9 nm (CuO) at the 10% oxygen ratio level.

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.37-42
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• 2001

The electrooxidation of methanol was studied using Pt, PtNi(1.1 and 3:1), PtRuNi and PtRu(1:1) alloy nanoparticles in sulfuric acid solution for application to a direct methanol fuel cell. The PtNi and PtRuNi alloys showed excellent catalytic activities compared to those of pure Pt and PtRu. The role of Ni in the electrocatalytic activity was investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The XPS data confirm that the chemical states of Pt are exclusively metal as well as the presence of metallic Ni, NiO, $Ni(OH)_2$, NiOOH, metallic Ru, $RuO_2$, and $RuO_3$. Negative shifts of the binding energies of Pt for the PtNi alloy nanoparticles were determined by XPS measurements. This can be explained based by assuming that the enhanced activities of PtNi alloys for methanol electrooxidation were caused by the oxide states of Ni and by the change in the electronic structure of Pt component in the alloys.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.846-851
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• 2007

In this work, the etching characteristics of $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5(GST)$ thin films were investigated using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) of $Cl_2/Ar$ gas mixture. To analyze the etching mechanism, an optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and surface analysis using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were carried out. The etch rate of the GST films decreased with decreasing Ar fraction. At the same time, high selective etch rate over $SiO_2$ films was obtained and the selectivity over photoresist films decreased with increasing the he fraction. From XPS results, we found that Te halides were formed at the etching surface and Te halides limited the etch rate of the GST films.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.13-17
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• 2014

The direct-patternable $SnO_2$ thin film was successfully fabricated by photochemical metal-organic deposition. The composition and chemical bonding state of $SnO_2$ thin film were analyzed by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) from the surface to the interface with Si substrate. XPS depth profiling analysis allowed the determination of the atomic composition in $SnO_2$ film as a function of depth through the evolution of four elements of C 1s, Si 2p, Sn 3d, and O 1s core level peaks. At the top surface, nearly stoichiometric $SnO_2$ composition (O/Sn ratio is 1.92.) was observed due to surface oxidation but deficiency of oxygen was increased to the interface of patterned $SnO_2/Si$ substrate where the O/Sn ratio was about 1.73~1.75 at the films. This O deficient state of the film may act as an n-type semiconductor and allow $SnO_2$ to be applied as a transparent electrode in optoelectronic applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.363-367
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• 2015

This paper reports on thermally adjusted graphene oxide (GO) as the hole transport layer (HTL) for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). GO is generally not suitable for HTL of OLEDs because of intrinsic specific resistance. In this paper, the specific resistance of GO is adjusted by the thermal annealing process. The optimum specific resistance of HTL is found to be $10^2{\Omega}{\cdot}m$, and is defined by the maximum current efficiency of OLEDs, 2 cd/A. In addition, the reasons for specific resistance change are identified by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). First, the XPS results show that several functional groups of GO were detached by thermal energy, and the amount of epoxide changed substantially following the temperature. Second, the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the C-C bond decreased during the process. That means the crystallinity of the graphene improved, which is the scientific basis for the change in specific resistance.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.223-227
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• 2016

The Zn, Sn, and ZnSn thin films were deposited on Si(100) substrate using radio frequency (RF) magnetron co-sputtering method. A surface profiler and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to investigate the Zn, Sn, and ZnSn thin films. Thickness of the thin films was measured by a surface profiler. The deposition rates of pure Zn and Sn thin films were calculated with thickness and sputtering time for optimization. From the survey XPS spectra, we could conclude that the thin films were successfully deposited on Si(100) substrate. The chemical environment of the Zn and Sn was monitored with high resolution XPS spectra in the binding energy regions of Zn 2p, Sn 3d, O 1s, and C 1s.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.51-59
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• 2006

The surface of various mechanical pulp fibres including thermomechanical pulp (TMP), chemithermomechanical pulp (CTMP), and alkaline peroxide mechanical pulp (APMP) fibres, were characterized using SEM, AFM, and XPS. With SEM and AFM, middle lamella material was observed to be non-fibrillar, patch-like, while fibre secondary wall was observed to have a microfibrillar structure. It was found that after the first-stage refiner, lignin-rich middle lamella remainders are present on the fibre surface of all three pulps, although most of the fibre surfaces expose microfibrillar structure. After the final-stage refining, large amounts of granules are present on the TMP fibre surface. In contrast, most middle lamella remainders remain on the surface of CTMP fibres after final stage refining and even after peroxide bleaching. XPS results have confirmed that the non-fibrillar surface material is the lignin-rich middle lamella remainder., and the remainders of middle lamella contribute to the high surface lignin concentration.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.126-131
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• 2008

The folding of aptamer immobilized on an Au electrode was successfully detected using label-free electrochemical methods. A thrombin binding DNA aptamer was used as a model system in the presence of various monovalent cations. Impedance spectra showed that the extent to which monovalent cations assist in folding of aptamer is ordered as $K^+$ > $NH_4^+$ > $Na^+$ > $Cs^+$. Our XPS analysis also showed that $K^+$ and $NH_4^+$ caused a conformational change of the aptamer in which it forms a stable complex with these monovalent ions. Impedance results for the interaction between aptamer and thrombin indicated that thrombin interacts more with folded aptamer than with unfolded aptamer. The EQCM technique provided a quantitative analysis of these results. In particular, the present impedance results showed that thrombin participates a folding of aptamer to some extent, and XPS analysis confirmed that thrombin stabilizes and induces the folding of aptamer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.203-207
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• 2003

Ion implantation has been shown to significantly alter the surface properties of polymers. Polycarbonate(PC) and Polyimide(PI) were irradiated with 50keV $N^+$, $Xe^+$ ions to the fluences of $1{\times}10^{16}{\sim}3{\times}10^{17}\;cm^2$. The ion beam-induced modification of the electrical conductivity and the related structural features have been studied for polymers. The beam-induced chemical and structural modifications have been investigated by using X-ray Phooelectron Spectroscopy(XPS) and Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectroscopy(FT-IR), while the modification of the electrical properties was followed by performing a complete set of sheet resistance measurements. Samples irradiated at higher fluence showed a good conductivity, with a saturation value of $10^7{\Omega}/sq$. The XPS data demonstrate that the modification of the electrical properties is due to the progressive formation with increasing ion fluence of a dense amorphous carbon network, while PF-IR data reveal that material degradations through bond breaking are the main effects.