• BMB Reports
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.311-316
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• 2021

Ethanol often causes critical health problems by altering the neuronal activities of the central and peripheral nerve systems. One of the cellular targets of ethanol is the plasma membrane proteins including ion channels and receptors. Recently, we reported that ethanol elevates membrane excitability in sympathetic neurons by inhibiting Kv7.2/7.3 channels in a cell type-specific manner. Even though our studies revealed that the inhibitory effects of ethanol on the Kv7.2/7.3 channel was diminished by the increase of plasma membrane phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PI(4,5)P₂), the molecular mechanism of ethanol on Kv7.2/7.3 channel inhibition remains unclear. By investigating the kinetics of Kv7.2/7.3 current in high K⁺ solution, we found that ethanol inhibited Kv7.2/7.3 channels through a mechanism distinct from that of tetraethylammonium (TEA) which enters into the pore and blocks the gate of the channels. Using a non-stationary noise analysis (NSNA), we demonstrated that the inhibitory effect of ethanol is the result of reduction of open probability (P_O) of the Kv7.2/7.3 channel, but not of a single channel current (i) or channel number (N). Finally, ethanol selectively facilitated the kinetics of Kv7.2 current suppression by voltage-sensing phosphatase (VSP)-induced PI(4,5)P₂ depletion, while it slowed down Kv7.2 current recovery from the VSP-induced inhibition. Together our results suggest that ethanol regulates neuronal activity through the reduction of open probability and PI(4,5)P₂ sensitivity of Kv7.2/7.3 channels.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.47 no.12
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• pp.31-38
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• 2010

This paper presents the design of a graphic memory for QVGA-scale LCD Driver IC (LDI). The graphic memory is designed based on the pseudo-SHAM for the purpose of small area, and the memory cell structure is designed using a bit line partitioning method to improve sensing characteristics and drivabilties in the line-read operation. Also, a collision protection circuit using C-gate is designed to control collisions between read/write operations and self-refresh/line-read operations effectively. The graphic memory circuit has been designed in transistor level using $0.18{\mu}m$ CMOS technology library and the operations of the graphic memory have been verified using Hspice. The results show that the bit-bitb line voltage difference, ${\Delta}V$ increases by 40%, the charge sharing time between bit and bitb voltages $T_{CHGSH}$ decreases by 30%, and the current during line-read decreases by 40%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.268-268
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• 2016

Chemical sensors have attracted much attention due to their various applications such as agriculture product, cosmetic and pharmaceutical components and clinical control. A conventional chemical and biological sensor is consists of fluorescent dye, optical light sources, and photodetector to quantify the extent of concentration. Such complicated system leads to rising cost and slow response time. Until now, the most contemporary thin film transistors (TFTs) are used in the field of flat panel display technology for switching device. Some papers have reported that an interesting alternative to flat panel display technology is chemical sensor technology. Recent advances in chemical detection study for using TFTs, benefits from overwhelming progress made in organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) electronic, have been studied alternative to current optical detection system. However numerous problems still remain especially the long-term stability and lack of reliability. On the other hand, the utilization of metal oxide transistor technology in chemical sensors is substantially promising owing to many advantages such as outstanding electrical performance, flexible device, and transparency. The top-gate structure transistor indicated long-term atmosphere stability and reliability because insulator layer is deposited on the top of semiconductor layer, as an effective mechanical and chemical protection. We report on the fabrication of InGaZnO TFTs with silver nanowire as the top gate electrode for the aim of chemical materials detection by monitoring change of electrical properties. We demonstrated that the improved sensitivity characteristics are related to the employment of a unique combination of nano materials. The silver nanowire top-gate InGaZnO TFTs used in this study features the following advantages: i) high sensitivity, ii) long-term stability in atmosphere and buffer solution iii) no necessary additional electrode and iv) simple fabrication process by spray.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.313-318
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• 2022

The feedback voltage detection structure is proposed to alleviate overshoot and undershoot caused by the removal of the existing external output capacitor. Conventional LDO regulators suffer from overshoot and undershoot caused by imbalances in the power supply voltage. Therefore, the proposed LDO is designed to have a more improved transient response to form a new control path while maintaining only the feedback path of the conventional LDO regulator. A new control path detects overshoot and undershoot events in the output stage. Accordingly, the operation speed of the pass element is improved by charging and discharging the current of the gate node of the pass element. LDO regulators with feedback voltage sensing architecture operate over an input voltage range of 3.3V to 4.5V and have a load current of up to 200mA at an output voltage of 3V. According to the simulation result, when the load current is 200mA, it is 73mV under the undershoot condition and 61mV under the overshoot condition.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.24-31
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• 2003

The discoveries of antiferromagnetic coupling in Fe/Cr multilayers by Grunberg, the Giant Magneto Resistance by Fert and Grunberg and a large tunneling magnetoresistance at room temperature by Moodera have triggered enormous research on magnetic thin films and magnetoelectronic devices. Large opportunities are especially opened by the spin dependent tunneling resistance, where a strong dependence of the tunneling current on an external magnetic field can be found. We will briefly address important basic properties of these junctions like thermal, magnetic and dielectric stability and discuss scaling issues down to junction sizes below 0.01 $\mu\textrm{m}$$^2$with respect to single domain behavior, switching properties and edge coupling effects. The second part will give an overview on applications beyond the use of the tunneling elements as storage cells in MRAMs. This concerns mainly field programmable logic circuits, where we demonstrate the clocked operation of a programmed AND gate. The second 'unconventional' feature is the use as sensing elements in DNA or protein biochips, where molecules marked magnetically with commercial beads can be detected via the dipole stray field in a highly sensitive and relatively simple way.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.307-307
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• 2014

정보화 시대로 접어들면서 동일한 공간에 더 많은 정보를 저장할 수 있고, 보다 빠른 동작이 가능한 비휘발성 메모리 소자에 대한 요구가 증가하고 있다. 하지만, 최근 비휘발성 메모리 소자 관련 연구보고에 따르면, 메모리 소자의 소형화 및 직접화 측면에서, 전하 저장을 기반으로 하는 기존의 Floating-Gate(FG) Flash 메모리는 20 nm 이하 공정에서 한계가 예측 되고 있다. 따라서, 이러한 FG Flash 메모리의 한계를 해결하기 위해, 기존에 FET 기반의 FG Flash 구조와 같은 3 terminal이 아닌, Diode와 같은 2 terminal로 동작이 가능한 ReRAM, PRAM, STT-MRAM, PoRAM 등 저항변화를 기반으로 하는 다양한 종류의 차세대 메모리 소자가 연구되고 있다. 그 중, 저항 변화 메모리(ReRAM)는 CMOS 공정 호환성, 3D 직접도, 낮은 소비전력과 빠른 동작 속도 등의 우수한 동작 특성을 가져 차세대 비휘발성 메모리로 주목을 받고 있다. 또한, 상하부 전극의 2 terminal 만으로 소자 구동이 가능하기 때문에 Passive Crossbar-Array(CBA)로 적용하여 플래시 메모리를 대체할 수 있는 유력한 차세대 메모리 소자이다. 하지만, 이를 현실화하기 위해서는 Passive CBA 구조에서 발생할 수 있는 Read Disturb 현상, 즉 Word-Line과 Bit-Line을 통해 선택된 소자를 제외하고 주변의 다른 소자를 통해 흐르는 Sneak Leakage Current(SLC)를 차단하여 소자의 메모리 State를 정확히 sensing하기 위한 연구가 선행 되어야 한다. 따라서, 현재 이러한 이슈를 해결하기 위해서, 많은 연구 그룹에서 Diodes, Threshold Switches와 같은 ReRAM에 Selector 소자를 추가하는 방법, 또는 Self-Rectifying 특성 및 CRS 특성을 보이는 ReRAM 구조를 제안 하여 SLC를 차단하고자 하는 연구가 시도 되고 있지만, 아직까지 기초연구 단계로서 아이디어에 대한 가능성 정도만 보고되고 있는 현실 이다. 이에 본 논문은 Passive CBA구조에서 발생하는 SLC를 해결하기 위한 새로운 아이디어로써, 본 연구 그룹에서 선행 연구로 확보된 안정적인 저항변화 물질인 SiN를 정류 특성을 가지는 n-Si/Ti 기반의 Schottky Diode와 결합함으로써 기존의 CBA 메모리의 Read 동작에서 발생하는 SLC를 차단 할 수 있는 1SD-1R 구조의 메모리 구조를 제작 하였으며, 본 연구 결과 기존에 문제가 되었던 SLC를 차단 할 수 있었다.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.619-628
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• 2019

In this paper, we designed a beta ray sensor for a true random number generator. Instead of biasing the gate of the PMOS feedback transistor to a DC voltage, the current flowing through the PMOS feedback transistor is mirrored through a current bias circuit designed to be insensitive to PVT fluctuations, thereby minimizing fluctuations in the signal voltage of the CSA. In addition, by using the constant current supplied by the BGR (Bandgap Reference) circuit, the signal voltage is charged to the VCOM voltage level, thereby reducing the change in charge time to enable high-speed sensing. The beta ray sensor designed with 0.18㎛ CMOS process shows that the minimum signal voltage and maximum signal voltage of the CSA circuit which are resulted from corner simulation are 205mV and 303mV, respectively. and the minimum and maximum widths of the pulses generated by comparing the output signal through the pulse shaper with the threshold voltage (VTHR) voltage of the comparator, were 0.592㎲ and 1.247㎲, respectively. resulting in high-speed detection of 100kHz. Thus, it is designed to count up to 100 kilo pulses per second.