• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.60-60
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• 2015

Nanosheets of graphene and related 2D materials have attracted much attention due to excellent physical, chemical and mechanical properties. Single-layer graphene (SLG) was first synthesized by Blakely et al in 1974 [1]. Following his achievements, we initiated the growth and characterization of graphene and h-BN on metal substrates using surface segregation and precipitation in 1980s [2,3]. There are three important steps for nanosheet growth; surface segregation of dopants, surface reaction for monolayer phase, and subsequent 3-D growth (surface precipitation). Surface phase transition was clearly demonstrated on C-doped Ni(111) by in situ XPS at elevated temperatures [4]. The growth mode was clarified by inelastic background analysis [5]. The surface segregation approach has been applied to C-doped Pt(111) and Pd(111), and controllable growth of SLG has been demonstrated successfully [6]. Recently we proposed a promising method for producing SLG fully covering an entire substrate using Ni films deposited on graphite substrates [7]. A universal method for layer counting has been proposed [8]. In this paper, we will focus on the effect of competitive surface-site occupation between carbon and other surface-active impurities on the graphene growth. It is known that S is a typical impurity of metals and the most surface-active element. The surface sites shall be occupied by S through surface segregation. In the case of Ni(110), it is confirmed by AES and STM that the available surface sites is nearly occupied by S with a centered $2{\times}2$ arrangement. When Ni(110) is doped with C, surface segregation of C may be interfered by surface active elements like S. In this case, nanoscopic characterization has discovered a preferred directional growth of SLG, exhibiting a square-like shape (Fig. 1). Also the detailed characterization methodologies for graphene and h-BN nanosheets, including AFM, STM, KPFM, AES, HIM and XPS shall be discussed.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.45-51
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• 2013

Thermal annealing tests were performed in an in-situ scanning electron microscope chamber at $130^{\circ}C$, $150^{\circ}C$, and $170^{\circ}C$ in order to investigate the effects of solder structure on the growth kinetics of intermetallic compound (IMC) in Cu/Sn-3.5Ag microbump. Cu/Sn-3.5Ag($6{\mu}m$) microbump with spreading solder structure showed $Cu_6Sn_5$ and $Cu_3Sn$ phase growths and then IMC phase transition stages with increasing annealing time. By the way, Cu/Sn-3.5Ag($4{\mu}m$) microbump without solder spreading, remaining solder was transformed to $Cu_6Sn_5$ right after bonding and had only a phase transition of $Cu_6Sn_5$ to $Cu_3Sn$ during annealing. Measured activation energies for the growth of the $Cu_3Sn$ phase during the annealing were 0.80 and 0.71eV for Cu/Sn-3.5Ag($6{\mu}m$) and Cu/Sn-3.5Ag($4{\mu}m$), respectively.

• Korean Journal of Crystallography
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.120-128
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• 1992

Single crysals of BaTiO3 were grown by TSSG technique at various cooling rates. Morpolo girts, defects and domain structures of the grown crystals were investigated. At the cooling rates below 0.5℃/hr, equant single crystals were obtained and the 11111 faces were dominantly developed. If the cooling rate was much faster or if the vortical temperature gradient in the so lotion was very large, the solution became unstable and the needle formed BasTil04 o crystals were precipitated. Two sets of parallel lamella domains are arranged perpendicular to each other and the irregularly shaped boundaries are fixed between them. These sets of domains show remarkable orientation contrast in x-ray topography. Heating the crystal above 127℃, the phase transition from tetragonal to cubic occurs. The phase transition front (PTF) moves in the direction of temperature gradient. Domains in the tetragonal phase are successively rearranged and regular strain patterns appear in the cubic phase. The habit plane of PTF in BaTi03 is found to deviate from a l1101 lattice plane by app roximately 9°.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.8
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• pp.596-600
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• 2011

Thermal degradation behavior of a $WO_3-TiO_2$ monolithic catalyst was investigated in terms of structural, morphological, and physico-chemical analyses. The catalyst with 4 wt.% $WO_3$ contents were prepared by a wet-impregnation method, and a durability test of the catalysts were performed in a temperature range between $400^{\circ}C$ and $800^{\circ}C$ for 3 h. An increase of thermal stress decreased the specific surface area, which was caused by grain growth and agglomeration of the catalyst particles. The phase transition from anatase to rutile occurred at around $800^{\circ}C$ and a decrease in the Brønsted acid sites was confirmed by structural analysis and physico-chemical analysis. A change in Brønsted acidity can affect to the catalytic efficiency; therefore, the thermal degradation behavior of the $WO_3-TiO_2$ catalyst could be explained by the transition to a stable rutile phase of $TiO_2$ and the decrease of specific surface area in the SCR catalyst.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.198-208
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• 2004

Although there has been no general agreement on the mechanism of primary water stress corrosion cracking (PWSCC) as one of major degradation modes of Ni-base alloys in pressurized water reactors (PWR's), common postulation derived from previous studies is that the damage to the alloy substrate can be related to mass transport characteristics and/or repair properties of overlaid oxide film. Recently, it was shown that the oxide film structure and PWSCC initiation time as well as crack growth rate were systematically varied as a function of dissolved hydrogen concentration in high temperature water, supporting the postulation. In order to understand how the oxide film composition can vary with water chemistry, this study was conducted to characterize oxide films on Alloy 600 by an in-situ Raman spectroscopy. Based on both experimental and thermodynamic prediction results, Ni/NiO thermodynamic equilibrium condition was defined as a function of electrochemical potential and temperature. The results agree well with Attanasio et al.'s data by contact electrical resistance measurements. The anomalously high PWSCC growth rate consistently observed in the vicinity of Ni/NiO equilibrium is then attributed to weak thermodynamic stability of NiO. Redox-induced phase transition between Ni metal and NiO may undermine the integrity of NiO and enhance presumably the percolation of oxidizing environment through the oxide film, especially along grain boundaries. The redox-induced grain boundary oxide degradation mechanism has been postulated and will be tested by using the in-situ Raman facility.

• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.369-379
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• 2008

A combined stochastic diffusion and mean-field model is developed for a systematic study of the grain growth in a pure single-phase polycrystalline material. A corresponding Fokker-Planck continuity equation is formulated, and the interplay/competition of stochastic and curvature-driven mechanisms is investigated. Finite difference results show that the stochastic diffusion coefficient has a strong effect on the growth of small grains in the early stage in both two-dimensional columnar and three-dimensional grain systems, and the corresponding growth exponents are ~0.33 and ~0.25, respectively. With the increase in grain size, the deterministic curvature-driven mechanism becomes dominant and the growth exponent is close to 0.5. The transition ranges between these two mechanisms are about 2-26 and 2-15 nm with boundary energy of 0.01-1 J $m^{-2}$ in two- and three-dimensional systems, respectively. The grain size distribution of a three-dimensional system changes dramatically with increasing time, while it changes a little in a two-dimensional system. The grain size distribution from the combined model is consistent with experimental data available.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.45 no.12
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• pp.935-949
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• 2022

Liver cancer has a high prevalence, with majority of the cases presenting as hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The prognosis of metastatic HCC has hardly improved over the past decade, highlighting the necessity for liver cancer research. Studies have reported the ability of the KiSS1 gene to inhibit the growth or metastasis of liver cancer, but contradictory research results are also emerging. We, therefore, sought to investigate the effects of KiSS1 on growth and migration in human HCC cells. HepG2 human HCC cells were infected with lentivirus particles containing KiSS1. The overexpression of KiSS1 resulted in an increased proliferation rate of HCC cells. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and immunoblotting revealed increased Akt activity, and downregulation of the G1/S phase cell cycle inhibitors. A significant increase in tumor spheroid formation with upregulation of β-catenin and CD133 was also observed. KiSS1 overexpression promoted the migratory, invasive ability, and metastatic capacity of the hepatocarcinoma cell line, and these effects were associated with changes in the expressions of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT)- related genes such as E-cadherin, N-cadherin, and slug. KiSS1 overexpression also resulted in dramatically increased tumor growth in the xenograft mouse model, and upregulation of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and Ki-67 in the HCC tumors. Furthermore, KiSS1 increased the angiogenic capacity by upregulation of the vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) and CD31. Based on these observations, we infer that KiSS1 not only induces HCC proliferation, but also increases the metastatic potential by increasing the migratory ability and angiogenic capacity.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.19-23
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• 2013

The temperature dependences of the NMR spectrum and the spin-lattice relaxation times in $KH_2PO_4$ were investigated via single-crystal NMR and MAS NMR. The stretched-exponential relaxation that occurred because of the distribution of correlation times was indicative of the degree of the distribution of the double-well potential on the hydrogen bond. The behaviors responsible for the strong temperature dependences of the $^1H$ and $^{31}P$ spin-lattice relaxation times in the rotating frame $T_{1{\rho}}$ in $KH_2PO_4$ are likely related to the reorientational motion of the hydrogen-bond geometry and the $PO_4$ tetrahedral distortion.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.605-611
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• 1998

A computer experimental model for analyzing the microstructures and properties of vibratory deposited power compacts was developed. The effects of some significant variables such as amplitude, frequency, cycle, etc. on the change of diffraction patterns and packing densities of the deposited powder compacts were examined. In addition, the condition of phase transition from non-crystalline phase to crystalline one was determined. Data obtained from the present method quite well fitted the empirical correlations for real experimental data. In conclusion, the present model is so useful to investigate the densification and ordering of vibratory compaction.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.310-316
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• 2001

Poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) synthase catalyzed the last enzymic step to synthesize the intracellular PHB of Rhodobacter sphaeroides. No PHB was detected when the phbC coding for PhB synthase was interrupted, and its expression was regulated at the level of transcription. The cellular PHB content increased about four- to six-fold during the growth transition from the exponential to the early stationary phase under both aerobic and photoheterotrophic conditions. The PHB content during the aerobic growth seemed to be determined by the PhB synthase activity. However, the PHB synthase activity of photoheterotrophically grown cells did not correlate with the PhB content, suggesting a photoheterotrophic regulation different from the aerobic control. Thus, the PHB content of R. sphaeroides was regulated at the transcription level only under aerobic conditions.