• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.114-117
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• 2011

We report our efforts on the development of Nb-based non-hysteretic Josephson junction fabrication process for quantu device applications. By adopting and modifying the existing Nb-aluminum oxide tunnel junction process, we develop a process for non-hysteretic Josephson junction circuits using metal-silicide as metallic barrier material. We use sputter deposition of Nb and $MoSi_2$, PECVD deposition of silicon oxide as insulator material, and ICP-RIE for metal and oxide etch. The advantage of the metal-silicide barrier in the Nb junction process is that it can be etched in $SF_6$ RIE together with Nb electrode. In order to define a junction area precisely and uniformly, end-point detection for the RIE process is critical. In this paper, we employed thin Al layer for the etch stop, and optimized the etch condition. We have successfully demonstrated that the etch stop properties of the inserted Al layer give a uniform etch profile and a precise thickness control of the base electrode in Nb trilayer junctions.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.44 no.8
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• pp.407-411
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• 2007

A 3-cell stacked anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell was designed and fabricated to achieve a complete gas seal and the facile stacking of components. The stack was assembled with a unit cell with $10{\times}10cm^2$ area, and each cell was interconnected by a stainless steel 430 separator using a proprietary sealant sheet. The stack performance was examined at various gas flow rates of $H_2+3.5vol%\;H_2O$, and air at a fixed temperature of $800^{\circ}C$. No gas leakage was found from the sealing between cells and inter-connects within a measurement system in this research during a prolonged time of 500 h in operation. The test resulted in an open circuit voltage of 3.12 V, a peak power of 149 W, and a power density of $0.61W/cm^2$, while the long term durability of the power showed 19.1% degradation during the prolonged time of 500 h when tested at $800^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.478.2-478.2
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• 2014

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) provides self-limiting processes based on chemisorption-based reactions. Such unique features allow for superior step coverage, atomic-scale control in thickness, and surface-dependent reaction controls. Furthermore, the surface-limited deposition enables the artificial deposition of oxide and/or metallic materials onto the porous systems as long as the supply is guaranteed in terms of time in providing reactant species and removing the byproducts and redundant reactants. The unique feature of atomic layer deposition is applied to solid oxide fuel cells whose incorporates two porous cathode and anode compartments in addition to the ionic electrolyte. Specific materials are deposited to the surface sites of porous electrodes, with the aim to controlling the triple phase boundaries crucial for the optimized SOFC performances. The effect of ALD on the SOFC performance is characterized using current-voltage characteristics in addition to frequency-dependent impedance spectroscopy. The pros and cons of ALD-controlled SOFCs are discussed toward high-performance SOFC systems.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.211-211
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• 2011

Nanostructures, with a diversity of shapes, built on substrates have been developed within many research areas. Lithography is one powerful, but complex, technique to make structures at the nanometer scale, such as platinum nanowires for studying CO catalytic reactions [1], or aluminum nanodisks for studying the plasmon effect [2]. In this work, we approach a facile method to construct nanostructures using noble metals on a titania thin film by using self-assembled structures as a pattern. Here, a large-scale silica monolayer is transferred to the titania thin film substrates using a Langmuir-Blodgett trough, followed by the deposition of a thin transition metal layer. Owing to the hexagonal close-packed structure of the silica monolayer, we would obtain a metal nanostructure that includes separated metallic triangles (islands) after removing the patterning silica beads. This nanostructure can be employed to investigate the role of metal-oxide interfaces in CO catalytic reactions by changing the patterning silica particles with different sizes or by replacing the oxide support. The morphology and chemical composition of the structure can be characterized by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In addition, we modify these islands to a connected island structure by reducing the silica size of the patterning monolayer, which is utilized to generating hot electron flow based on the localized surface plasmon resonance effect of the metal nanostructures.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.358-363
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• 2015

We present an excellent detection for nitrogen monoxide (NO) gas using polycrystalline ZnO wire-like films synthesized via a simple method combined with sputtering of Zn metallic films and subsequent thermal oxidation of the sputtered Zn nanowire films in dry air. Structural and morphological characterization revealed that it would be possible to synthesize polycrystalline hexagonal wurtzite ZnO films of a wire-like nanostructure with widths of 100-150 nm and lengths of several microns by controlling the sputtering conditions. It was found from the gas sensing measurements that the ZnO wire-like thin film gas sensor showed a significantly high response, with a maximum value of 29.2 for 2 ppm NO at $200^{\circ}C$, as well as a reversible fast response to NO with a very low detection limit of 50 ppb. In addition, the ZnO wire-like thin film gas sensor also displayed an NO-selective sensing response for NO, $O_2$, $H_2$, $NH_3$, and CO gases. Our results illustrate that polycrystalline ZnO wire-like thin films are potential sensing materials for the fabrication of NO-sensitive high-performance gas sensors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.562-568
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• 2017

Background: The chemical characterization of metallic alloys and oxides is conventionally carried out by wet chemical analytical methods and/or instrumental methods. Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) is capable of analyzing samples nondestructively. As a part of a chemical quality control exercise, Zircaloys 2 and 4, nimonic alloy, and zirconium oxide samples were analyzed by two INAA methods. The samples of alloys and oxides were also analyzed by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and direct current Arc OES methods, respectively, for quality assurance purposes. The samples are important in various fields including nuclear technology. Methods: Samples were neutron irradiated using nuclear reactors, and the radioactive assay was carried out using high-resolution gamma-ray spectrometry. Major to trace mass fractions were determined using both relative and internal monostandard (IM) NAA methods as well as OES methods. Results: In the case of alloys, compositional analyses as well as concentrations of some trace elements were determined, whereas in the case of zirconium oxides, six trace elements were determined. For method validation, British Chemical Standard (BCS)-certified reference material 310/1 (a nimonic alloy) was analyzed using both relative INAA and IM-NAA methods. Conclusion: The results showed that IM-NAA and relative INAA methods can be used for nondestructive chemical quality control of alloys and oxide samples.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.222-229
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• 2021

Icing causes various serious problems, where water vapor or water droplets adhere at cold conditions. Therefore, understanding of ice adhesion on solid surface and technology to reduce de-icing force are essential for surface finishing of metallic materials used in extreme environments and aircrafts. In this study, we controlled wettability of aluminum alloy using anodic oxidation, hydrophobic coating and lubricant-impregnation. In addition, surface porosity of anodized oxide layer was controlled to realize superhydrophilicity and superhydrophobicity. Then, de-icing force on these surfaces with a wide range of wettability and mobility of water was measured. The results show that the enhanced wettability of hydrophilic surface causes strong adhesion of ice. The hydrophobic coating on the nanoporous anodic oxide layer reduces the adhesion of ice, but the volume expansion of water during the freezing diminishes the effect. The lubricant-impregnated surface shows an extremely low adhesion of ice, since the lubricant inhibits the direct contact between ice and solid surface.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.121-128
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• 2022

A tremendous amount of energy resources is being wasted in cleaning wastewater to save the environment across the globe. Several different procedures are commercially available to process wastewater. In this work, membrane filtration technique is used to treat the textile wastewater because of its cost effectiveness and low environmental impacts. Mixed Matrix Membrane (MMM) consist of Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) in which Graphene Oxide (GO) was added as a filler material. Five different membranes by varying the quantity of GO were prepared. The prepared membrane has been characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD), Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Water Contact Angle (WCA). The prepared membranes have been utilized to treat textile wastewater. The synthesized membranes are used for the elimination of total dissolve solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), Methylene blue (MB) dye and copper metallic ions from textile wastewater. It is concluded that amount of GO has direct correlation with the quality of wastewater treatment. The maximum removal of TDS, TSS, MB and copper ions are found to be 7.42, 23.73, 50.53 and 64.5% respectively and are achieved by 0.02 wt% PVA-GO membrane.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.266-270
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• 2015

The synthesis of NiTi alloy powders by hydrogen reduction and dehydrogenation process of NiO and $TiH_2$ powder mixtures is investigated. Mixtures of NiO and $TiH_2$ powders are prepared by simple mixing for 1 h or ball milling for 24 h. Simple-mixed mixture shows that fine NiO particles are homogeneously coated on the surface of $TiH_2$ powders, whereas ball milled one exhibits the morphology with mixing of fine NiO and $TiH_2$ particles. Thermogravimetric analysis in hydrogen atmosphere reveals that the NiO and $TiH_2$ phase are changed to metallic Ni and Ti in the temperature range of 260 to $290^{\circ}C$ and 553 to $639^{\circ}C$, respectively. In the simple-mixed powders by heat-up to $700^{\circ}C$, agglomerates with solid particles and solidified liquid phase are observed, and the size of agglomerates is increased at $1000^{\circ}C$. From the XRD analysis, the presence of liquid phase is explained by the formation and melting of $NiTi_2$ inter-metallic compound due to an exothermic reaction between Ni and Ti. The simple-mixed powders, heated to $1000^{\circ}C$, lead to the formation of NiTi phase but additional Ni-, Ti-rich and Ti-oxide phases. In contrast, the microstructure of ball-milled powders is characterized by the neck-grown particles, forming $Ni_3Ti$, Ti-oxide and unreacted Ni phase.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.258-261
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• 2000

Highly (h00)-oriented (Ba, Sr)TiO$_3$(BST) thin films were grown by pulsed laser deposition on the perovskite LaNiO$_3$(LNO) metallic oxide layer as a bottom electrode. The LNO films were deposited on SiO$_2$/Si substrates by rf-magnetron sputtering method. The crystalline phases of the BST film were characterized by x-ray $\theta$-2$\theta$, $\omega$-rocking curve and $\psi$-scan diffraction measurements. The surface microsturcture observed by scanning electron microscopy was very dense and smooth. The low-frequency dielectric responses of the BST films grown at various substrate temperatures were measured as a function of frequency in the frequency range from 0.1 Hz to 10 MHz. The BST films have the dielectric constant of 265 at 1 kHz and showed multiple dielectric relaxation at the low frequency region. The origin of these low-frequency dielectric relaxation are attributed to the ionized space charge carriers such as the oxygen vacancies and defects in BST film, the interfacial polarization in the grain boundary region and the electrode polarization. We studied also on the capacitance-voltage characteristics of BST films.