• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.379-384
• /
• 2015

An infrared image sensor is a core device in a thermal imaging system. The fabrication method of a focal plane array (FPA) is a key technology for a high resolution infrared image sensor. Each pixels in the FPA have $Si_3N_4/SiO_2$ membranes including legs to deposit bolometric materials and electrodes on Si readout circuits (ROIC). Instead of polyimide used to form a sacrificial layer, the feasibility of an amorphous silicon (${\alpha}-Si$) was verified experimentally in a $8{\times}8$ micro-bolometer array with a $50{\mu}m$ pitch. The elimination of the polyimide sacrificial layer hardened by a following plasma assisted deposition process is sometimes far from perfect, and thus requires longer plasma ashing times leading to the deformation of the membrane and leg. Since the amorphous Si could be removed in $XeF_2$ gas at room temperature, however, the fabricated micro-bolomertic structure was not damaged seriously. A radio frequency (RF) sputtered nickel oxide film was grown on a $Si_3N_4/SiO_2$ membrane fabricated using a low stress silicon nitride (LSSiN) technology with a LPCVD system. The deformation of the membrane was effectively reduced by a combining the ${\alpha}-Si$ and LSSiN process for a nickel oxide micro-bolometer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2005.07a
• /
• pp.164-165
• /
• 2005

The dry etch characteristics of GaAs over both AlGaAs and InGaP in planar inductively coupled $BCl_3$-based plasmas(ICP) with additions of $SF_6$ or $CF_4$ were studied. The additions of flourine gases provided enhanced etch selectivities of GaAs/AlGaAs and GaAs/InGaP. The etch stop reaction involving formation of involatile $AlF_3$ and $InF_3$ (boiling points of etch products: $AlF_3\sim1300^{\circ}C$, $InF_3$ > $1200^{\circ}C$ at atmosphere) were found to be effective under high density inductively coupled plasma condition. Decrease of etch rates of all materials was probably due to strong increase of flourine atoms in the discharge, which blocked the surface of the material against chlorine neutral adsorption. The process parameters were ICP source power (0 - 500 W), RF chuck power (0 - 30 W) and variable gas composition. The process results were characterized in terms of etch rate, selectivities of GaAs over AlGaAs and InGaP, surface morphology, surface roughness and residues after etching.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.34 no.12
• /
• pp.1912-1920
• /
• 2021

Objective: This study investigated the effects of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) on the motility parameters, mitochondrial membrane depolarization, and ATP levels in chicken sperm. Methods: The pooled semen from Barred Plymouth Rock males was used. In the first experiment, the semen was diluted 4-times with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS (-)) containing various concentrations (0, 0.01, 0.05, and 0.1 mM) of 5-ALA, and then the sperm motility parameters after incubation were evaluated by computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA). In the second experiment, the semen was diluted 4-times with PBS (-) containing 0.05 mM 5-ALA, and then sperm mitochondrial membrane depolarization and ATP levels after 1.5 h of incubation were analyzed with the MitoPT^® JC-1 Assay and ATP Assay kits, respectively. In the third experiment, the semen was removed from the seminal plasma and resuspended with the mediums of PBS (-), PBS (-) supplemented with CaCl₂ and MgCl₂ (PBS (+)) + 5-ALA, PBS (+) + caffeine, and PBS (+) + caffeine + 5-ALA. Then, the sperm motility parameters after incubation were evaluated by CASA. In the last experiment, the semen was treated with the mediums of PBS (-), PBS (-) + 5-ALA, 5.7% glucose, 5.7% glucose + 5-ALA after removing the seminal plasma, and then the sperm motility parameters were evaluated by CASA. Results: The addition of 0.05 mM 5-ALA significantly increased the chicken sperm motility, progressive motility, linearity, average path velocity, curvilinear velocity, straight-line velocity, and the wobble. The sperm mitochondrial membrane depolarization was also increased by the 5-ALA treatment. The 5-ALA treatment decreased the sperm ATP levels. Both the caffeine treatment and glucose treatment decreased the sperm motility during incubation period. Conclusion: 5-ALA might increase sperm mitochondrial membrane depolarization to utilize the ATP for enhancing sperm movement.

• Clean Technology
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.375-382
• /
• 2014

This work investigated the plasma-catalytic decomposition of isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and the behavior of the byproduct compounds over monolith-supported metal oxide catalysts. Iron oxide ($Fe_2O_3$) or copper oxide (CuO) was loaded on a monolithic porous ${\alpha}-Al_2O_3$ support, which was placed inside the coaxial electrodes of plasma reactor. The IPA decomposition efficiency itself hardly depended on the presence and type of metal oxides because the rate of plasma-induced decomposition was so fast, but the behavior of byproduct formation was largely affected by them. The concentrations of the unwanted byproducts, including acetone, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, methane, carbon monoxide, etc., were in order of $Fe_2O_3/{\alpha}-Al_2O_3$ < $CuO/{\alpha}-Al_2O_3$ < ${\alpha}-Al_2O_3$ from low to high. Under the condition (flow rate: $1L\;min^{-1}$; IPA concentration: 5,000 ppm; $O_2$ content: 10%; discharge power: 47 W), the selectivity towards $CO_2$ was about 40, 80 and 95% for ${\alpha}-Al_2O_3$, $CuO/{\alpha}-Al_2O_3$ and $Fe_2O_3/{\alpha}-Al_2O_3$, respectively, indicating that $Fe_2O_3/{\alpha}-Al_2O_3$ is the most effective for plasma-catalytic oxidation of IPA. Unlike plasma-alone processes in which tar-like products formed from volatile organic compounds are deposited, the present plasma-catalyst hybrid system did not exhibit such a phenomenon, thus retaining the original catalytic activity.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 2001.11a
• /
• pp.161-164
• /
• 2001

Transmuted impurity atoms formed in neutron-irradiated ZnO thin films were theoretically identified first and then experimentally confirmed by Photoluminescence (PL). ZnO thin films grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy were irradiated by neutron beam at room temperature. Among eight isotropes naturely exiting in ZnO films, only $^{64}Zn$, $^{68}Zn$, $^{70}Zn$ and $^{18}O$ were expected to transmute into $^{65}Cu$, $^{69}Ga$, $^{71}Ga$ and $^{19}F$, respectively. The concentrations of these transmuted atoms were estimated by considering natural abundance, neutron fluence, and neutron cross section. The neutron-irradiated ZnO thin films were characterized by PL. In the PL spectra of these ZnO thin film, the Cu-related PL peaks were seen, but the Ga- or F-associated PL peaks were absent. This observation demonstrates the existence of $^{65}Cu$ in the ZnO. In this paper, emission mechanism of Cu impurities wil1 be described and the reason for the absence of the Ga- or F-associated PL peaks will be discussed.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.322-325
• /
• 2003

BST thin films were etched with inductively coupled plasmas. A chemically assisted physical etch of BST was experimentally confirmed by ICP under various gas mixtures. After a 20 % addition of $BCl_3$ to the $Cl_2/Ar$ mixture, resulting in an increased the chemical effect. As a increases of RF power, substrate power, and substrate temperature, and decrease of working pressure, the ion energy flux and chlorine atoms density increased. The maximum etch rate of the BST thin films was 90.1 nm/min at the RF power, substrate power, working pressure, and substrate temperature were 700 W, 300 W, 1.6 Pa, and 20 $^{\circ}C$, respectively. It was proposed that sputter etching is dominant etching mechanism while the contribution of chemical reaction is relatively low due to low volatility of etching product.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.8 no.3B
• /
• pp.346-352
• /
• 1999

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) lims were deposited by using end hall type ion gun. Benzene gas was used for the generation of carbon ions. In order to systematically control the ion energy, we applied to the substrate DC, pulsed DC or 250 kHz medium frequency bias voltage, DLC films of superior mechanical properties of hardness 39$\pm$4 GPa and elastic mudulus 290$\pm$50GPa (2 to 6 times better than those of the films deposited by plasma assisted CVD method) could be obtained. Deposition rate was much higher than when using Kaufman type ion source, which results from higher ion beam current of end hall type ion gun. The mechanical properties and atomic bond structure were independent of the bias voltage type ion gun. The mechanical properties and atomic bond structure were independent of the bias voltage type but intimately related with the magnitude of the bias voltage. With increasing the negative bias voltage, the structure of the films changed to graphitic one resulting in decreased content of three dimensional inter-links. Degradation of the mechanical properties with increasing bias voltage could be thus understood in terms of the content odf three dimensional inter-links.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.52-54
• /
• 2017

An InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) structure is grown on a GaN/sapphire template using a plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE). The fluctuation of the quantum well thickness formed from roughly-grown InGaN layer results in a disordered photoluminescence (PL) spectrum. The surface morphologies of the InGaN layers with various In compositions are investigated by reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). A blurred InGaN/GaN hetero-interface and the non-uniform QW size is confirmed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). Inhomogeneity of the quantum confinement results in a degradation of the quantum efficiency even though the InGaN layer has a uniform In composition.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.5-8
• /
• 2003

In this study, as Cu diffusion barrier, tantalum nitrides were successfully deposited on Si(100) substrate and $SiO_2$ by plasma assisted atomic layer deposition(PAALD) and thermal ALD, using pentakis (ethylmethlyamino) tantalum (PEMAT) and NH$_3$ as precursors. The TaN films were deposited at $250^{\circ}C$ by both method. The growth rates of TaN films were 0.8${\AA}$/cycle for PAALD and 0.75${\AA}$/cycle for thermal ALD. TaN films by PAALD showed good surface morphology and excellent step coverage for the trench with an aspect ratio of h/w -1.8:0.12 mm but TaN films by thermal ALD showed bad step coverage for the same trench. The density for PAALD TaN was 11g/cmand one for thermal ALD TaN was 8.3g/$cm^3$. TaN films had 3 atomic % carbon impurity and 4 atomic % oxygen impurity for PAALD and 12 atomic % carbon impurity and 9 atomic % oxygen impurity for thermal ALD. The barrier failure for Cu(200 nm)/TaN(10 nm)/$SiO_2$(85 nm)/ Si structure was shown at temperature above $700^{\circ}C$ by XRD, Cu etch pit analysis.

• KSTLE International Journal
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.38-42
• /
• 2002

Diamond-like Carbon(DLC) films were deposited on Si wafers by an RF-plasma-assisted CVD using CH$_4$gas. Tribological tests were conducted with the use of a rotating type ball on a disk friction tester with dry air. This study made use of four kinds of mating balls that were made with stainless steel but subjected to different annealing conditions in order to achieve different levels of hardness. In all load conditions, testing results demonstrated that the harder the mating materials, the lower the friction coefficient was. The friction coefficients were fecund to be lower with austenite mating balls than with fully annealed martensite balls. Conversely, the high friction coefficient found in soft martensite balls appeared to be caused by the larger contact area between the DLC film and the ball. The wear tracks on DLC films and mating balls could prove that effect. Measuring the wear track of both DLC films and mating balls revealed a similar tendency compared to the results of friction coefficients. The wear rate of austenite balls was also less than that of fully annealed martensite balls. Friction eoefficients decrease when applied leads exceed critical amount. The wear track on mating balls showed that a certain amount of material transfer occurs from the DLC film to the mating ball during a high friction process. Raman Spectra analysis Showed that the transferred materials were a kind of graphite and that the contact surface of the DLC film seemed to undergo a phase transition from carbon to graphite during the high friction process.