• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.513-519
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• 2006

We developed two kinds of the microchip for application to electrophoresis based on both glass and quartz employing the MEMS fabrications. The poly-Si layer deposited onto the bonding interface apart from channel regions can play a role as the optical slit cutting off the stray light in order to concentrate the UV ray, from which it is possible to improve the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of the detection on a chip. In the glass chip, the deposited poly-Si layer had an important function of the etch mask and provided the bonding surface properly enabling the anodic bonding. The glass wafer including more impurities than quartz one results in the higher surface roughness of the channel wall, which affects subsequently on the microflow behavior of the sample solutions. In order to solve this problem, we prepared here the mixed etchant consisting HF and $NH_4F$ solutions, by which the surface roughness was reduced. Both the shape and the dimension of each channel were observed, and the electroosmotic flow velocities were measured as 0.5 mm/s for quartz and 0.36 mm/s for glass channel by implementing the microchip electrophoresis. Applying the optical slit with poly-Si layer provides that the S/N ratio of the peak is increased as ca. 2 times for quartz chip and ca. 3 times for glass chip. The maximum UV absorbance is also enhanced with ca. 1.6 and 1.7 times, respectively.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.25 no.3 s.50
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• pp.341-353
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• 1995

Previous study had shown the diversities in the propriety for optimal bond strength on the concentration of the etchant. The aim of present study in vitro was to evaluate and compare the shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets to enamel and to measure the depth of etch on the phosphoric acid concentrations. A hundred and seventy six extracted bovine lower centrals were ground to yield flat surfaces and etched by the concentration $0%,\;5%,\;10%,\;20%,\;30%,\;40%,\;50%,\;60%,\;70%,\;80%\;and\;85\%$ of phosphoric acid respectively during 60 seconds. The shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets, the depth of etch and surface roughness of the enamel were measured, and scanning electron microscopic observations on the etched enamel surfaces were carried out. The data obtained from the very experiments were processed and statistically analyzed and evaluated. The gradual increase in the depth of etch to enamel as the accretion of the concentration of the phosphoric acid upto $40-50\%$ and decline henceforth were manifested. The surface roughness showed no correlation with the depth of etch, yet moderate correlation with the shear bond strength of brackets. Scanning electron microscopic investigation revealed that morphological patterns of the etched enamel surfaces for $5\%\;to\;40\%$ of concentrations were even and homogenous, and those for $50\%$ as well as $60\%$ exhibited the overetched and unhomogenous. The shear bond strengths kom $10\%\;to\;60\%$ of concentration showed no statistically significant differences. It was suggested that the shear bond strengths at $5\%\;and\;70\%$ were sufficient to tolerate the force levels of the ordinary orthodontic treatment notwithstanding to be significantly lower than those from $10\%\;to\;60\%$ phosphoric acid solution.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2008

In order to apply for transparent conductive oxide(TCO), we deposited ZnO thin films on the glass at room temperature by RF magnetron sputtering method. Deposition conditions for high transmittance and low resistivity were optimized in our previous studies. Under the deposition condition with the RF power of 200 W, target to substrate distance of 30 mm and working pressure of 5 mTorr, highly conductive($7.4{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}cm$) and transparent(over 85%) ZnO films were prepared. Highly oriented ZnO film in the [002] direction were obtained with specifically designed ZnO targets. Systematic study on dependence of deposition parameters on electrical and optical properties of the as-grown ZnO films were mainly investigated in this work. And for application tests using these films as transparent conductive oxide anodes, wet chemical etching behaviors of ZnO films were also investigated using various chemicals. Wet-chemical etching behavior of ZnO films were investigated using various acid solutions. The concentrations of these different acid solutions were controlled to study the etching shapes and etching rate. ZnO films were anisotropically etched at various concentrations and wet etching led to crater-like surface structure. Also we firstly found that the etching rate and etching shapes of ZnO films strongly depended on the etchant concentrations (i.e. pH) and the etching rate is exponentially decreased with increasing pH values regardless of the acid etchants.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.405-415
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• 1999

In general, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is usually used in the investigation of polymer microstructure. Microtoming, solution casting, staining and carbon replica method are frequently introduced to the study of the polymer morphology with TEM, however the sample preparation procedure of those techniques is very difficult, and it takes a long time. The purpose of this study is to develop a new sample preparation technique which is suitable for the investigation of the various shapes and species of polyolefin microstructure by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). By modifying the conventional chemical etching method, we developed a new chemical etching technique and sample preparation procedure that are suitable for SEM study of polymer microstructure. In this study the permanganate etching method is introduced and the optimum etching condition are determined by simply adjusting the etchant formulation, concentration and etching time. This technique has shown good reproducibility and it's morphological results agree well with other works on various types of microstructures such as spherulite characterization of isotatic polypropylene $(\alpha/\beta)$, polyethylene and poly-propylene copolymer characterization, and the study of lamellar growth pattern of unsheared or oriented materials. This technique has also been applied to the industrial fields for characterization of the polyolefin film, automobile products and the others.

• Clean Technology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.158-162
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• 2017

$FeCl_3$ solution has been used as an etchant for metal etching such as Fe, Cu, Al and Ni. In the etching process, $Fe^{3+}$ is reduced to $Fe^{2+}$ and the etching efficiency is decreased. Waste $FeCl_3$ etchant has environmental, economic problems and thus the regeneration of the etching solution has been required. In this study, HCl was mixed with the $FeCl_2$ solution and then, $H_2O_2$, $NaClO_3$ were added into the mixed solution to oxidize the $Fe^{2+}$. During the oxidation process, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) was measured and the relationship between ORP and oxidation ratio was investigated. The ORP is increased with increasing the concentration of $H_2O_2$ and $NaClO_3$, and then the ORP is decreased with oxidation progress. Such a behavior was in good agreement with Nernst's equation. Also, the oxidation efficiency was about 99% when a sufficient amount of HCl and $H_2O_2$, $NaClO_3$ were added.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.143-147
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• 2017

To evaluate surface characteristics and improve crystalline quality of AlN single crystal grown by physical vapor transport (PVT) method, wet chemical etching process using $KOH/H_2O_2$ mixture in a low temperature condition and thermal annealing process was proceeded respectively. Conventional etching process using strong base etchant at a high temperature (above $300^{\circ}C$) had formed over etching phenomenon according to crystalline quality of materials. When it occurred to over etching phenomenon, it had a low reliability of dislocation density because it cannot show correct number of etch pits per estimated area. Therefore, it was proceeded to etching process in a low temperature (below $100^{\circ}C$) using $H_2O_2$ as an oxidizer in KOH aqueous solution and to be determined optimum etching condition and dislocation density via scanning electron microscope (SEM). For improving crystalline quality of AlN single crystal, thermal annealing process was proceeded. When compared with specimens as-prepared and as-annealed, full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the specimen as-annealed was decreased exponentially, and we analyzed the mechanism of this process via double crystal X-ray diffraction (DC-XRD).

• Solar Energy
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.3-11
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• 1997

Because grain boundaries in polycrystalline silicon act as potential barriers and recombination centers for the photo-generated charge carriers, these defects degrade conversion effiency of solar cell. To reduce these effects of grain boundaries, we investigated various influencing factors such as thermal treatment, various grid pattern, selective wet etching for grain boundaries, buried contact metallization along grain boundaries, grid on metallic thin film. Pretreatment above $900^{\circ}C$ in $N_2$ atmosphere, gettering by $POCl_3$ and Al treatment for back surface field contributed to obtain a high quality poly-Si. To prevent carrier losses at the grain boundaries, we carried out surface treatment using Schimmel etchant. This etchant delineated grain boundaries of $10{\mu}m$ depth as well as surface texturing effect. A metal AI diffusion into grain boundaries on rear side reduced back surface recombination effects at grain boundaries. A combination of fine grid with finger spacing of 0.4mm and buried electrode along grain boundaries improved short circuit current density of solar cell. A ultra-thin Chromium layer of 20nm with transmittance of 80% reduced series resistance. This paper focused on the grain boundary effect for terrestrial applications of solar cells with low cost, large area, and high efficiency.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.18-24
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• 2017

The $FeCl_3$ solution has been used as an etchant for etching of metal. It is necessary to reuse the etching solution because waste $FeCl_3$ etchant generated after use has provided environmental and economic problems. In this study, HCl was mixed with the $FeCl_2$ solution and then $H_2O_2$ was added into the mixed solution to oxidize the $Fe^{2+}$. During the oxidation process, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) was measured and the relationship between ORP and oxidation ratio was investigated. As a result, this study found that the ORP was increased with increasing the concentration of HCl and $H_2O_2$, while the ORP is decreased with oxidation progress. Such a behavior was in good agreement with Nernst's equation. Also, the oxidation efficiency reached about 99% when a sufficient amount of HCl and $H_2O_2$ were added.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.414-420
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• 1999

The oxide sacrificial layer technology is one of the key technologies in surface micromachining. However, the commonly used aqueous HF solutions, including the $NH_4F$ buffered HF solutions (BHF), are known to attack the Al metal layers during the oxide sacrificial etch. A mixed $NH_4F$/HF/glycerine aqueous solution of 4:1:2 ratio is known to have the best etch selectivity between oxide and AI, but even this sacrificial etchant has a significant etch rate for AI. This paper reports an extensive experimental study on various concentration ratios for HF, $NH_4F$ and glycerine, and develops the optimal mixture ratio for sacrificial etching. At the $NH_4F$/HF/glycerine ratio of 2:1:4, the etch selectivity between PSG and Al improves by approximately 6 times over the previously known best selectivity, to a value of 7,700. At this condition, the measured etch rate of PSG film is approximately $2.1\;{\mu}m/min$, which is sufficiently fast. The developed sacrificial etchant allows the addition of a Al metal layer in surface micromachining, without the worry of Al layer erosion during sacrificial etch.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2013

This review article summarizes metal-assisted chemical etching (MAC etch or MACE), an anisotropic etching method for Si, and describes principles, main factors, and recent achievements in literature. In 1990, it was discovered that, with metal catalyst on surface and $H_2O_2$/HF as etchant, Si substrate can be etched anisotropically, in even in solution. In contrast to high-cost vacuum-based dry etching methods, MAC etch enables to fabricate a variety of high aspect ratio nanostructures through wet etching process.