• Membrane Journal
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.170-183
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• 2021

Fouling has continued to be a problem that hinders the effectiveness of membrane properties. To solve this problem of reducing fouling effects on membrane surface properties, different and innovative types of membrane patterning has been proposed. This article reviews on the progress of patterned membranes and their separation process concerning the fouling effects of membranes. The types of separation processes that utilize the maximum effectiveness of the patterned membranes include nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO), microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), and pervaporation (PV). Using these separation processes have shown and prove to have a major effect on reducing fouling effects, and in addition, they also add beneficial properties to the patterned membranes. Each patterned membrane and their separation processes gave notable results in threshold towards flux, salt rejections, hydrophilicity and much more, but there are also some unsolved cases to be pointed out. In this review, the effects of patterned membrane for separation processes will be discussed.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2010

Recently, many researches on the development of super-hydrophobic surface have been concentrated on the fabrication of nano-patterned products. Nano-patterned mold is a key to replicate nano-patterned products by mass production process such as injection molding and UV molding. The present paper proposes the new fabricating method of nano-patterned mold at low cost. The nano-patterned mold was fabricated by electroforming the anodic aluminum oxide membrane filled with UV curable resin in nano-hole by capillary phenomenon. As a result, the final mold with nano-patterns which have the holes with the diameter of 100~200 nm was fabricated. Furthermore, the UV-molded products with clear nano- patterns which have the pillars with the diameter of 100~200nm were achieved.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.161-169
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• 2021

As clean water continues to be a demand in this global water crisis, development of separation membrane technology for water purification becomes a necessity. The effectiveness of separation membranes is hindered in the water crisis due to fouling of membranes. To address this problem, the application of patterns on flat membranes via various methods have been recently studied and experimented. Patterned membranes have shown to not only reduce the fouling effects of membranes, but also increase the fluxes depending on the method and materials used. Each application has shown benefits that include, but not limited to, enhanced surface area, higher pure-water permeability, and increased number of filtration cycles. In this review, the effects of patterned membranes against antifouling is summarized and discussed.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.31-39
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• 2023

Salinity gradient energy can be generated from a mixture of water streams with different salt concentrations by using reverse electrodialysis (RED). In this study, we evaluated the effect of stack size and number of cell pairs on the energy efficiency and specific energy of the RED process. Additionally, we studied the prementioned parameters to maximize the power density of RED. The performance of the RED stack which used a patterned ion exchange membrane, was evaluated as a function of stack size and feed flow rate. Moreover, it was noted that an increase in stack size increased the ion movement through the ion exchange membrane. Furthermore, an increase in feed flow rate led to a reduction in the concentration variation, resulting in an increase in OCV and power density. The energy efficiency and specific energy for 100 cells in the 10 × 10 cm² stack were the highest at 12% and 0.05 kWh/m³, respectively, while the power density from 0.33 cm/s to 5 × 5 cm² stack was the highest at 0.53 W/m². The study showed that the RED performance can be improved by altering the size of the stack and the number of cell pairs, thereby positively affecting energy efficiency and specific energy.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.71-76
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• 2023

The electroconvection generated on the surface of an ion exchange membrane (IEM) is closely related to the electrical/chemical characteristics or topology of the IEM. In particular, when non-conductive regions are mixed on the surface of the IEM, it can have a great influence on the transfer of ions and the formation of nonlinear electroconvective vortices, so more theoretical and experimental studies are necessary. Here, we present a novel method for creating microscale non-conductive patterns on the IEM surface by laser ablation, and successfully visualize microscale vortices on the surface modified IEM. Microscale (~300 ㎛) patterns were fabricated by applying UV nanosecond laser processing to the non-conductive film, and were transferred to the surface of the IEM. In addition, UV nanosecond laser process parameters were investigated for obvious micro-pattern production, and operating conditions were optimized, such as minimizing the heat-affected zone. Through this study, we found that non-conductive patterns on the IEM surface could affect the generation and growth of electroconvective vortices. The experimental results provided in our study are expected to be a good reference for research related to the surface modification of IEMs, and are expected to be helpful for new engineering applications of electroconvective vortices using a non-conductive patterned IEM.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.428-435
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• 2002

Pyroelectric $Pb(Zr_{0.3}Ti_{0.7})O_3$ (PZT30/70) thin film IR detectors has been fabricated and characterised. The PZT30/70 thin film was deposited onto $Pt/Ti/Si_3N_4/SiO_2/Si$ substrate by the sol-gel process. Four different substrate conditions were studied for their effects on the pyroelectric responses of the IR detectors. The substrate conditions were the combinations of the Si etching and the Pt/Ti patterning. In the Si etched substrate, the $Si_3N_4/SiO_2$ composite layer was used as silicon etch-stop, and was used as the membrane to support the PZT pyroelectric film element as well. The measured pyroelectric current and voltage responses of detectors fabricated on the micro-machined thin $Si_3N_4/SiO_2$ membrane were two orders higher than those of the detectors on the bulk-silicon. For detectors on the membrane substrate, the Pt/Ti patterned detectors showed a 2-times higher pyroelectric response than that of not-patterned detectors. On the other hand, the pyroelectric response of the detectors on the not-etched Si substrate was almost the same, regardless of the Pt/Ti patterning. It was also found that the rise time strongly depended on the substrate thickness: the thicker the substrate was, the longer the rise-time.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.7-11
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• 2015

In order to protect the patterned mask from contamination during lithography process, pellicle has become a critical component for Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technology. According to EUV pellicle requirements, the pellicle should have high EUV transmittance and robust mechanical property. In this study, silicon nitride, which is well-known for its remarkable mechanical property, was used as a pellicle membrane material to achieve high EUV transmittance. Since long silicon wet etching process time aggravates notching effect causing stress concentration on the edge or corner of etched structure, the remaining membrane is prone to fracture at the end of etch process. To overcome this notching effect and attain high transmittance, we began preparing a rather thick (200 nm) $SiN_x$ membrane which can be stably manufactured and was thinned into 43 nm thickness with HF wet etching process. The measured EUV transmittance shows similar values to the simulated result. Therefore, the result shows possibilities of HF thinning processes for $SiN_x$ EUV pellicle fabrication.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2019

This paper presents an air flow sensor (AFS) based on a polymer thin film. This AFS primarily consists of a polymer membrane attached to a metal-patterned glass substrate and a temperature-sensing element composed of NiCr. These two components were integrated on a single glass substrate. The AFS measures changes in capacitance caused by deformation of the polymer membrane based on the air flow and simultaneously detects the temperature of the surrounding environment. A readout integrated circuit (ROIC) was also fabricated for signal processing, and an ROIC chip, 1.8 mm by 1.9 mm in size, was packaged with an AFS in the form of a system-in-package module. The total size of the AFS is 1 by 1 cm, and the diameter and thickness of the circular-shaped polymer membrane are 4 mm and $15{\mu}m$, respectively. The rate of change of the capacitance is approximately 11.2% for air flows ranging between 0 and 40 m/s.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.364-365
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• 2006

One of the promising routes for producing highly ordered nanostructures is a template method using the porous alumina membrane (PAM). Because the PAM is mechanically, chemically, thermally stabile with highly ordered structure, many researchers have studied under various experimental conditions to fabricate nanostructures. We present the information on the fabrication of about 300 nm nano-mask which have important applications for various patterned nanostructures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2000.05a
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• pp.1051-1054
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• 2000

We developed the micro CSF (celebrospinal fluid) shunt valve with surface and bulk micromachining technology in polymer MEMS. This micro CSF shunt valve was formed with four micro check valves to have a membrane connected to the anchor with the four bridges. The up-down movement of the membrane made the CSF on & off and the valve characteristic such as open pressure was controlled by the thickness and shape of the bridge and the membrane. The membrane, anchor and bridge layer were made of the $O_2$ RIE (reactive ion etching) patterned Parylene thin film to be about 5~10 microns in thickness on the silicon wafer. The dimension of the rectangular nozzle is 0.2＊0.2 $\textrm{mm}^2$ and the membrane 0.45 mm in diameter. The bridge width is designed variously from 0.04 mm to 0.12 mm to control the valve characteristics. To protect the membrane and bridge in the CSF flow, we developed the packaging system for the CSF micro shunt valve with the deep RIE of the silicon wafer. Using this package, we can control the gap size between the membrane and the nozzle, and protect the bridge not to be broken in the flow. The total dimension of the assembled system is 2.5＊2.5 $\textrm{mm}^2$ in square, 0.8 mm in height. We could precisely control the burst pressure and low rate of the valve varing the design parameters, and develop the whole CSF shunt system using this polymer MEMS fabricated CSF shunt valve.