• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.525-529
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• 2018

The antireflective (AR) coated poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) substrate was deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) to improve hydrophobicity and mechano-chemical properties of organic thin films. The water contact angles (WCA) were tested to characterize the surface wettability of SAM octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) films. Results showed that a contact angle of $105.9^{\circ}$ was obtained for the SAM films with an annealing process, and the highest WCA of $120^{\circ}$ was achieved for the films prepared by the SAM and ALD multi-process. The surface morphology of the SAM films with different assembly times and varying number of ALD cycles was obtained by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The maximum light transmittance for the SAM films on the PMMA substrate reached 99.9% at a wavelength of 450 nm. It was found that the SAM surfaces were not affected at all by the ALD process.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.47-52
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• 2003

Ferromagnetic tunnel junctions were fabricated by dc magnetron sputtering and plasma oxidation process. The local transport properties of the ferromagnetic tunnel junctions were studied using contact-mode Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and the local current-voltage analysis. Tunnel junctions with the structure of sub./Ta/Cu/Ta/NiFe/Cu/Mn$\_$75/Ir$\_$25//Co$\_$70/Fe$\_$30//Al-oxide were prepared on thermally oxidized Si wafers. Al-oxide layers were formed with microwave excited plasma using radial line slot antenna (RLSA) for 5 and 7 sec. Kr gas was used as the inert gas mixed with $O_2$ gas for the plasma oxidization. No correlation between topography and current image was observed while they were measured simultaneously. The local current distribution was well identified with the distribution of local barrier height. Assuming the gaussian distribution of the local barrier height, the ferromagnetic tunnel junction with longer oxidation time was well fitted with the experimental results. As contrast, in the case of the shorter time oxidation junction, the current mainly flow through the low barrier height area for its insufficient oxygen. Such leakage current might result in the decrease of tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratio.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.19-25
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• 2004

Pitch measurements of 150 nm one-dimensional grating standards were carried out using a contact mode atomic force microscopy with a high resolution three-axis laser interferometer. This measurement technique was named as the 'nano-metrological AFM'. In the nano-metrological AFM, three laser interferometers were aligned precisely to the end of an AFM tip. Laser sources of the three-axis laser interferometer in the nano-metrological AFM were calibrated with an I$_2$ stabilized He-Ne laser at a wavelength of 633 nm. Therefore, the Abbe error was minimized and the result of the pitch measurement using the nano-metrological AFM could be used to directly measure the length standard. The uncertainty in the pitch measurement was estimated in accordance with the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM). The primary source of uncertainty in the pitch-measurements was derived from the repeatability of the pitch-measurements, and its value was about 0.186 nm. The average pitch value was 146.65 nm and the combined standard uncertainty was less than 0.262 nm. It is suggested that the metrological AFM is a useful tool for the nano-metrological standard calibration.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.173-177
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• 2012

We used contact resonance force microscopy (CRFM) technique to determine the quantitative elastic properties of multiple materials integrated on the sub micrometer scale. The CRFM approach measures the frequencies of an AFM cantilever's first two flexural resonances while in contact with a material. The plain strain modulus of an unknown or test material can be obtained by comparing the resonant spectrum of the test material to that of a reference material. In this study we examined the following bumping materials for flip chip by using copper electrode as a reference material: NiP, Solder (Sn-Au-Cu alloy) and under filled epoxy. Data were analyzed by conventional beam dynamics and contact dynamics. The results showed a good agreement (~15% difference) with corresponding values determined by nanoindentaion. These results provide insight into the use of CRFM methods to attain reliable and accurate measurements of elastic properties of materials on the nanoscale.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.174-180
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• 2011

Nondestructive surface imaging of elastic characteristic and mechanical property has been studied on nanoscale surface with ultrasonic AFM. Resonance frequency variation of cantilever is theoretically analyzed with respect to contact mechanics as well as experimentally measured. The contact resonance frequency is calculated theoretically using the spring-mass and Herzian model in accordance with the resonance frequency of UAFM cantilever measured experimentally. Consequently, the topography and amplitude images could be obtained successfully and the elastic characteristic at the nanoscale surface was evaluated qualitatively by amplitude signals.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.289-296
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• 2012

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been used for imaging surfaces and measuring surface forces at the nano-scale. Force calibration is important for the quantitative measurement of forces at the nano-scale using AFM. Normal force calibration is relatively straightforward, whereas the lateral force calibration is more complicated since the lateral stiffness of the cantilever is often comparable to the contact stiffness. In this work, the lateral force calibrations of the rectangular cantilever were performed using torsional Sader's method, thermal noise method, and wedge calibration method. The lateral optical lever sensitivity for the thermal noise method was determined from the friction loop under various normal forces as well. Experimental results showed that the discrepancies among the results of the different methods were as large as 30% due to the effect of the contact stiffness on the lateral force calibration of the cantilever used in this work. After correction for the effect of contact stiffness, all the calibration results agreed with each other, within experimental uncertainties.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.1560-1565
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• 2003

Tapping mode atomic force microscopy (TM-AFM) utilizes the dynamic response of a resonating probe tip as it approaches and retracts from a sample to measure the topography and material properties of a nanostructure. We present recent results based on nonlinear dynamical systems theory, computational continuation techniques and detailed experiments that yield new perspectives and insight into AFM. A dynamic model including van der Waals and Derjaguin-Muller-Toporov (DMT) contact forces demonstrates that periodic solutions can be represented with respect to the approach distance and excitation frequency. Turning points on the surface lead to hysteretic amplitude jumps as the tip nears/retracts from the sample. Experiments are performed using a tapping mode tip on a graphite sample to verify the predictions.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.863-870
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• 2017

With the increasing interest in using bacterial biofilms in geo-engineering practices, such as soil improvement, sealing leakage in earth structures, and hydraulic barrier installation, understanding of the contribution of bacterial biofilm formation to mechanical and hydraulic behavior of soils is important. While mechanical properties of soft gel-like biofilms need to be identified for appropriate modeling and prediction of behaviors of biofilm-associated soils, elastic properties of biofilms remain poorly understood. Therefore, this study investigated the microscale Young's modulus of biofilms produced by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 in a liquid phase. The indentation test was performed on a biofilm sample using the atomic force microscopy (AFM) with a spherical indentor, and the force-indentation responses were obtained during approach and retraction traces. Young's modulus of biofilms was estimated to be ~33-38 kPa from these force-indentation curves and Hertzian contact theory. It appears that the AFM indentation result captures the microscale local characteristics of biofilms and its stiffness is relatively large compared to the other methods, including rheometer and hydrodynamic shear tests, which reflect the average macro-scale behaviors. While modeling of mechanical behaviors of biofilm-associated soils requires the properties of each component, the obtained results provide information on the mechanical properties of biofilms that can be considered as cementing, gluing, or filling materials in soils.

• 전자공학회논문지 IE
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.42-50
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• 2007

In this paper, elastic and plastic adhesion index was very important in deciding adhesive characteristics and varying elastic and plastic index, dimensionless load and pull-off force were analyzed and simulated. Finally, using AFM, experimental surface roughness parameters of substrates and pull-off force between tip and substrates were produced. Using these values, pull-off forces were calculated and were compared with experimental pull-off forces. Through simulation and experiment, it was found that interaction of asperity also had very important influence on adhesive contact.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.07a
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• pp.279-282
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• 2001

The IBE(ion beam etching)-induced Schottky barrier variation which depends on various etching history related with ion energy, incident angle and etching time has been investigated using voltage-current, capacitance-voltage characteristics of metal-etched silicon contact and morphology of etched surface were studied using AFM(atomic force microscope). For ion beam etched n-type silicons, Schottky barrier is reduced according to ion beam energy. It can be seen that amount of donor-like positive charge created in the damaged layer is proportional to the ion energy. By contrary, for ion beam etched p-type silicons, the Schottky barrier and specific contact resistance are both increased. Not only etching time but also incident angle of ion beam has an effect on barrier height. Taping-mode AFM analysis shows increased roughness RMS(Root-Mean-Square) and depth distribution due to ion bombardment. Annealing in an N$_2$ ambient for 30 min was found to be effective in improving the diode characteristics of the etched samples and minimum annealing temperatures to recover IBE-induced barrier variation were related to ion beam energy.