• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.116-121
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• 2012

Recently, in the field of renewable energy such as solar cells including the semiconductor and display industries, thin film deposition process is being diversified. Furthermore, to deal with trend of making high-quality and fast, the high-capacity and output plasma power supply which can control high density plasma is required. The biggest problem is arc discharge caused by using high voltage power supply. Thus, the key function of plasma power supply is to prevent arc discharge and there is a need to maintain the possible minimum arc energy. In DC sputtering power supply, on a periodic basis (-)voltage powering up is able to significantly reduce arcing, as well as arc discharge prevention, and maintaining uniform charge density. This conventional method for powering up (-)voltage requires heavy mutual inductance of the transformer to avoid distortion problem of the output voltage. This study is about energy recovery circuit for arc discharge prevention in sputtering plasma power supply. By using energy recovery circuit, it is possible to reduce the mutual inductance and size of the transformer dramatically, prevent distortion of the output voltage and has a stable output waveform. This work was proved through simulation and experimental study.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.162.1-162.1
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• 2015

The use of plasma has increased in bio-application field in recent years. Particularly, water treated by arc discharge or atmospheric pressure plasma has been actively utilized in bio-industry. In this study, we have developed a plasma activated water generating system. For this system, two kinds of plasma sources; dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma and arc discharge plasma have been used. The discharge energy was calculated using the breakdown voltage and current, and the emission spectrum was measured to investigate the generated reactive species. We also analyzed the amount of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in water using the chemical methods and nitric oxide sensor. Finally, the influence of plasma generated reactive species on the germination and growth of spinach (Spinacia oleracea) was investigated. Spinach is a green leafy vegetable that contains a large amount of various physiologically active organic compounds. However, it is characterized with a low seed germination rate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2015.11a
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• pp.183-183
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• 2015

Arc in plasma processing chamber results in high current discharge marks and particles on wafers, but it is hard to identify or observe it during the proc ess. In this paper, we report the observations of plasma arc s during various plasma proc esses through a non-invasive optic al plasma monitoring system (OPMS) devised for the in-situ detec tion of abnormal discharge.

• 전기의세계
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.6-10
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• 1967

The deionization behavior in plasma during arc discharge of mercury arc rectifier depends on ambipolar diffusion. It is shown here in the quantitative analysis that a diameter of arc path which affects the mercury arc rectifier characteristics is related with the density of charged particles in plasma, the particle number of extruguish ion, the deionizing time and the recovering time of grid controlled ability. The conclusion would he useful for designing a diameter of arc path of mercury arc rectifier by quantitative method. And it could be applied to the designing of electrical apparatus using arc discharge phenomena.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.96-97
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• 2012

In nitride and oxide film deposition, sputtered metals react with nitrogen or oxygen gas in a vacuum chamber to form metal nitride or oxide films on a substrate. The physical properties of sputtered films (metals, oxides, and nitrides) are strongly influenced by magnetron plasma density during the deposition process. Typical target power densities on the magnetron during the deposition process are ~ (5-30) W/cm2, which gives a relatively low plasma density. The main challenge in reactive sputtering is the ability to generate a stable, arc free discharge at high plasma densities. Arcs occur due to formation of an insulating layer on the target surface caused by the re-deposition effect. One current method of generating an arc free discharge is to use the commercially available Pinnacle Plus+ Pulsed DC plasma generator manufactured by Advanced Energy Inc. This plasma generator uses a positive voltage pulse between negative pulses to attract electrons and discharge the target surface, thus preventing arc formation. However, this method can only generate low density plasma and therefore cannot allow full control of film properties. Also, after long runs ~ (1-3) hours, depends on duty cycle the stability of the reactive process is reduced due to increased probability of arc formation. Between 1995 and 1999, a new way of magnetron sputtering called HIPIMS (highly ionized pulse impulse magnetron sputtering) was developed. The main idea of this approach is to apply short ${\sim}(50-100){\mu}s$ high power pulses with a target power densities during the pulse between ~ (1-3) kW/cm2. These high power pulses generate high-density magnetron plasma that can significantly improve and control film properties. From the beginning, HIPIMS method has been applied to reactive sputtering processes for deposition of conductive and nonconductive films. However, commercially available HIPIMS plasma generators have not been able to create a stable, arc-free discharge in most reactive magnetron sputtering processes. HIPIMS plasma generators have been successfully used in reactive sputtering of nitrides for hard coating applications and for Al2O3 films. But until now there has been no HIPIMS data presented on reactive sputtering in cluster tools for semiconductors and MEMs applications. In this presentation, a new method of generating an arc free discharge for reactive HIPIMS using the new Cyprium plasma generator from Zpulser LLC will be introduced. Data (or evidence) will be presented showing that arc formation in reactive HIPIMS can be controlled without applying a positive voltage pulse between high power pulses. Arc-free reactive HIPIMS processes for sputtering AlN, TiO2, TiN and Si3N4 on the Applied Materials ENDURA 200 mm cluster tool will be presented. A direct comparison of the properties of films sputtered with the Advanced Energy Pinnacle Plus + plasma generator and the Zpulser Cyprium plasma generator will be presented.

• 전기의세계
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.27-38
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• 1972

This paper discusses the characteristics about the ignition of D.C. main discharge is a plasma jet generator, manufactured for trial as non-transferred type, when the electrical energy appropriate to the ignition is supplied to the gap between the electrodes by using advance discharge of attenuating high frequency voltage generated by a high frequency oscillator with mercury spark gap. These characteristics are under the influences of (a) the length of mercury gap in high frequency oscillator and the quantity of hydrogen flow supplied to it, (b) the condenser capacity of the high frequency oscillator circuit, (c) the length of plasma jet torch in D.C. main discharge circuit and the quantity of argon flow supplied to it, (d) the circuit constants of D.C. main discharge circuit. The results for these characteristics, obtained by this research, are considered to be helpful to the designs for the ignition of a plasma jet as well as the welding arc stabilizer by high frequency discharge and the high frequency arc welder.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.65-70
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• 2011

Perfluorocompounds (PFCs) gases were decomposed by gliding arc plasma generated by AC pulse power. $N_2$ gas of 10 LPM flow rate and $H_2$ gas of 0.5 LPM were introduced into the gliding arc plasma generated between a pair of electrodes with SUS 303 material, and the PFCs gases were injected in the plasma and thereby were decomposed. The PFCs gas-decomposition-characteristics through the gliding arc plasma were analyzed by FT-IR, where pure $N_2$ and $H_2$-added $N_2$ environment were used to generate the gliding arc plasma. The PFCs gas-decomposition-properties were changed by electric power for gliding arc plasma generation and the H2 gas addition was effective to enhance the PFCs decomposition rate.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.11 no.6 s.47
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• pp.510-514
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• 2004

Iron-carbon nanocapsules were synthesized by plasma arc discharge (PAD) process under various atmosphere of methane, argon and hydrogen gas. Characterization and surface properties were investigated by means of HRTEM, XRD, XPS and Mossbauer spectroscopy. Fe nanocapsules synthesized were composed of three phases $({\alpha}-Fe,\;Y-Fe\;and\;Fe_{3}C)$ with core/shell structures. The surface of nanocapsules was covered by the shell of graphite phase in the thickness of $4{\~}5$nm.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.11 no.6 s.47
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• pp.522-527
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• 2004

Nano sized FeAl intermetallic particles were successfully synthesized by plasma arc discharge pro-cess. The synthesized powders shouted core-shell structures with the particle size of 10-20 nm. The core was metallic FeAl and shell was composed of amorphous $AI_{2}O_{3}\;and\;a\;little\;amount\;of\;metallic\;Fe_{3}O_{4}.$ Because of the difference of Fe and Al vapor pressure during synthesis, the Al contents in the nanoparticles depended on the Al contents of master alloy.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 2003

To investigate the effect of the parameters of the plasma arc discharge process on the particle formation and particle characteristics of the iron nano powder, the chamber pressure, input current and the hydrogen volume fraction in the powder synthesis atmosphere were changed. The particle size and phase structure of the synthesized iron powder were studied using the FE-SEM, FE-TEM and XRD. The synthesized iron powder particle had a core-shell structure composed of the crystalline $\alpha$-Fe in the core and the crystalline $Fe_3O_4$ in the shell. The powder generation rate and particle size mainly depended on the hydrogen volume fraction in the powder synthesis atmosphere. The particle size increased simultaneously with increasing the hydrogen volume fraction from 10% to 50%, and it ranged from about 45nm to 130 nm.