• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.265-269
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• 2004

Plasma nitrocarburising and post oxidation were performed on SCM435 steel by a pulsed plasma ion nitriding system. Plasma oxidation resulted in the formation of a very thin ferritic oxide layer 1-2 $\mu\textrm{m}$ thick on top of a 15～25 $\mu\textrm{m}$ $\varepsilon$-F $e_{2-3}$(N,C) nitrocarburized compound layer. The growth rate of oxide layer increased with the treatment temperature and time. However, the oxide layer was easily spalled from the compound layer either for both oxidation temperatures above $450^{\circ}C$, or for oxidation time more than 2 hrs at oxidation temperature $400^{\circ}C$. It was confirmed that the relative amount of $Fe_2$$O_3$, compared with $e_3$$O_4$, increased rapidly with the oxidation temperature. The amounts of ${\gamma}$'-$Fe_4$(N,C) and $\theta$-$Fe_3$C, generated from dissociation from $\varepsilon$-$Fe_{2-3}$ /(N,C) phase during $O_2$ plasma sputtering, were also increased with the oxidation temperature.e.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.133-138
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• 2017

We investigated the interface defect engineering and reaction mechanism of reduced transition layer and nitride layer in the active plasma process on 4H-SiC by the plasma reaction with the rapid processing time at the room temperature. Through the combination of experiment and theoretical studies, we clearly observed that advanced active plasma process on 4H-SiC of oxidation and nitridation have improved electrical properties by the stable bond structure and decrease of the interfacial defects. In the plasma oxidation system, we showed that plasma oxide on SiC has enhanced electrical characteristics than the thermally oxidation and suppressed generation of the interface trap density. The decrease of the defect states in transition layer and stress induced leakage current (SILC) clearly showed that plasma process enhances quality of $SiO_2$ by the reduction of transition layer due to the controlled interstitial C atoms. And in another processes, the Plasma Nitridation (PN) system, we investigated the modification in bond structure in the nitride SiC surface by the rapid PN process. We observed that converted N reacted through spontaneous incorporation the SiC sub-surface, resulting in N atoms converted to C-site by the low bond energy. In particular, electrical properties exhibited that the generated trap states was suppressed with the nitrided layer. The results of active plasma oxidation and nitridation system suggest plasma processes on SiC of rapid and low temperature process, compare with the traditional gas annealing process with high temperature and long process time.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.373-379
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• 2002

We investigated the evolution of magnetoresistance and magnetic property of tunneling magnetoresistive(TMR) device with microstructure and plasma oxidation time. TMR devices have potential applications for non volatile MRAM and high density HDD reading head. We prepared the tunnel magnetoresistance(TMR) devices of Ta($50{\AA}$)/NiFe($50{\AA}$)/IrMn($150{\AA}$)/CoFe($50{\AA}$)/Al($13{\AA}$)-O/CoFe($40{\AA}$)/FiFe($400{\AA}$)/Ta(($50{\AA}$) structure which have $100{\times}100\mu\textrm{m}^2$ junction area on $2.5{\times}2.5\textrm{cm}^2$ Si/$SiO_2$(($1000{\AA}$) substrates by an inductively coupled plasma(ICP) magnetron sputter. We fabricated the insulating layer using an ICP plasma oxidation method by with various oxidation time from 30 sec to 360 sec, and measured resistances and magnetoresistance(MR) ratios of TMR devices. We found that the oxidized sample for oxidation time of 80 sec showed the highest MR radio of 30.31 %, while the calculated value regarding inhomogeneous current effect indicated 25.18 %. We used transmission electron microscope(TEM) to investigate microstructural evolution of insulating layer. Comparing the cross-sectional TEM images at oxidation time of 150 sec and 360 sec, we found that the thickness and thickness variation of 360 sec-oxidized insulating layer became 30% and 40% larger than those of 150 sec-oxidized layer, repectively. Therefore, our results imply that increase of thickness variation with oxidation time may be one of the major treasons of the MR decrease.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.681-686
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• 2006

Plasma nitrocarburising and plasma post oxidation were performed to improve the wear and corrosion resistance of S45C and SCM440 steel by a plasma ion nitriding system. Plasma nitrocarburizing was conducted for 3h at $570^{\circ}C$ in the nitrogen, hydrogen and methane atmosphere to produce the ${\varepsilon}-Fe_{2-3}$(N, C) phase. Plasma post oxidation was performed on the nitrocarburized samples with various oxygen/hydrogen ratio at constant temperature of $500^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour. The very thin magnetite ($Fe_3O_4$) layer $1-2{\mu}m$ in thickness on top of the $15{\sim}25{\mu}m$ ${\varepsilon}-Fe_{2-3}$(N, C) compound layer was obtained by plasma post oxidation. A salt spray test and electrochemical testing revealed that in the tested 5% NaCl solution, the corrosion characteristics of the nitrocarburized compound layer could be further improved by the application of the superficial magnetite layer. Throttle valve shafts were treated under optimum plasma processing conditions. Accelerated life time test results, using throttle body assembled with shaft treated by plasma nitrocarburising and post oxidation, showed that plasma nitrocarburizing and plasma post oxidation processes could be a viable technology in the very near future which can replace $Cr^{6+}$ plating.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.103-109
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• 2001

Plasma nitrocarburising and post oxidation were performed on SM45C steel using a plasma nitriding unit. Nitrocarburising was carried out with various methane gas compositions with 4 torr gas pressure at $570^{\circ}C$ for 3 hours and post oxidation was carried out with 100% oxygen gas atmosphere with 4 torr at different temperatures for various times. It was found that the compound layer produced by plasma nitrocarburising consisted of predominantly ${\varepsilon}-Fe_{2-3}(N,C)$ and a small proportion of ${\gamma}-Fe_4(N,C)$. With increasing methane content in the gas mixture, ${\varepsilon}$ phase compound layer was favoured. In addition, when the methane content was further increased, cementite was observed in the compound layer. The very thin oxide layer on top of the compound layer was obtained by post oxidation. The formation of Oxide phase was initially started from the magnetite($Fe_3O_4$) and with increasing oxidation time, the oxide phase was increased. With increasing oxidation temperature, oxide phase was increased. However the oxide layer was split from the compound layer at high temperature. Corrosion resistance was slightly influenced by oxidation times and temperatures.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.119-124
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• 2016

Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) is a promising coating process to produce ceramic oxide on valve metals such as Al, Mg and Ti. The PEO coating is carried out with a dilute alkaline electrolyte solution using a similar technique to conventional anodizing. The coating process involves multiple process parameters which can influence the surface properties of the resultant coating, including power mode, electrolyte solution, substrate, and process time. In this study, ceramic oxide coatings were prepared on commercial Al alloy in electrolytes with different KOH concentrations (0.5 ~ 4 g/L) by plasma electrolytic oxidation. Microstructural and electrochemical characterization were conducted to investigate the effects of electrolyte concentration on the microstructure and electrochemical characteristics of PEO coating. It was revealed that KOH concentration exert a great influence not only on voltage-time responses during PEO process but also on surface morphology of the coating. In the voltage-time response, the dielectric breakdown voltage tended to decrease with increasing KOH concentration, possibly due to difference in solution conductivity. The surface morphology was pancake-like with lower KOH concentration, while a mixed form of reticulate and pancake structures was observed for higher KOH concentration. The KOH concentration was found to have little effect on the electrochemical characteristics of coating, although PEO treatment improved the corrosion resistance of the substrate material significantly.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.94-104
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• 2018

Nitrite is an essential additive for cured meat product. Plasma is ionized gas and reactive nitrogen species in plasma can be infused into meat batter and subsequently generate nitrites by reaction with water molecules after plasma treatment. However, the increase of nitrite in meat batter is limited with direct treatment of atmospheric pressure cold plasma because of the increase of meat batter temperature. Therefore, this study investigated the influence of indirect treatment of atmospheric pressure cold plasma on the physicochemical properties of meat batter. Meat batter was indirectly treated with plasma at 1.5 kW for 60 min. The pH of meat batter decreased while the temperature increased with plasma treatment time. The total aerobic bacterial count of meat batter was not affected by plasma treatment. The nitrite content of meat batter was increased to 377.68 mg/kg after 60 min of plasma treatment. The residual nitrite content of cooked meat batter also increased with plasma treatment time. The CIE $a^*$-value of cooked meat batter increased. As plasma treatment time increased, lipid oxidation tended to increase and protein oxidation significantly increased. According to these results, the indirect treatment of atmospheric pressure cold plasma can be used as a new curing method for replacing synthetic nitrite salts.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.213-217
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• 2006

Titania coatings were prepared on commercially pure Ti by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) method with various electrolytes and process condition. Coatings were formed under galvanostatic condition with several current density values, and the change of applied voltage with process time was recorded. The microstructure of the titania coatings was observed using XRD, SEM, TEM, and the time-voltage diagrams were analyzed in terms of microstructure evolution.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.200-204
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• 2002

We fabricated TMR devices which have double oxidized tunnel barrier using plasma oxidation method to form homogeneously oxidized AlO tunnel barrier. We sputtered 10 $\AA$-bottom Al layer and oxidized it by varying oxidation time for 5, 10, 20 sec. Subsequent sputtering of 13 $\AA$ - Al was performed and the matallic layer was oxidized for 120 sec. The electrical resistance changed from 700$\Omega$ to 2700$\Omega$ with increase of oxidation time, while variation of MR ratio was little spreading 27~31% which is larger than that of TMR device of ordinary single tunnel barrier. We calculated effective barrier height and width by measuring I-V curves, from which we found the barrier height was 1.3~1.5 eV, sufficient for tunnel barrier, and the barrier width(<16.2 $\AA$) was smaller than that of directly measured value by the tunneling electron microscopy. Our results may be caused by insufficient oxidation of Al precursor into $Al_2O_3$. However, double oxidized tunnel barriers were superior to conventional single tunnel barrier in uniformity and density. We found that the external magnetic field to switch spin direction of ferromagnetic layer of pinned layer breaking ferro-antiferro exchange coupling was increased as bottom layer oxidation time increased. Our results imply that we were able to improve MR ratio and tune switching field by employing double oxidized tunnel barrier process.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.32A no.3
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• pp.68-77
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• 1995

Characteristics of electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma thermal oxide grown at low-temperature have been investigated. The effects of several process parameters such as substrate temperature, microwave power, gas flow rate, and process pressure on the growth rate of the oxide have been also investigated. It was found that the plasma density, reactive ion species, is strongly related to the growth rate of ECR plasma oxied. It was also found that the plasma density increases with microwave power while it decreases with decreasing O2 flow rate. The oxidation time dependence of the oxide thichness showed parabolic characteristics. Considering ECR plasma thermal oxidation at low-temperature, the linear as well as parabolic rate constants calculated from fitting data by using the Deal-Grove model was very large in comparison with conventional thermal oxidation. The ECR plasma oxide grown on (100) crystalline-Si wafer exhibited good electrical characteristics which are comparable to those of thermal oxide: fixed oxide charge(N$_{ff}$)= 7${\times}10^{10}cm^{-2}$, interface state density(N$_{it}$)=4${\times}10^[10}cm^{-2}eV^{-1}$, and breakdown field > 8MV/cm.