Long lifetime, low power consumption, and environmental friendliness have enabled light-emitting diode (LED) lighting to rapidly replace conventional light sources such as incandescent and fluorescent lamps. In particular, AC-LED lighting systems can be directly powered by commercial alternating current (AC) sources; however, they suffer from significant luminance deviation caused by uneven current distribution among LED light-emitting modules. This paper proposes a lighting control method that improves flicker performance while maintaining lamp brightness and effectively reduces luminance deviation in AC-LED lighting. The proposed method reduces luminance deviation by controlling the lighting order of multiple LED light-emitting modules. Among four LED modules, only the required number of modules is continuously turned on, and the lighting priority alternates between rectification cycles. Specifically, during odd rectification cycles, LED modules are activated sequentially in ascending order (11→12→13→14), whereas during even rectification cycles, they are activated in descending order (14→13→12→11). By alternately applying continuous lighting control with opposite activation orders, the proposed reverse alternating lighting control method equalizes the current distribution among LED modules. As a result, luminance uniformity is improved, electrical stress concentration on specific modules is reduced, and the operational lifetime of the LED modules is extended compared with the conventional fixed-sequence lighting control method.

This review examines the principles, limitations, and recent advancements in elastic modulus measurement using nanoindentation. The importance of accurate contact area prediction is discussed, along with the Oliver-Pharr method and its limitations. The Continuous Stiffness Measurement (CSM) technique is presented as a significant improvement, allowing continuous measurement of mechanical properties throughout the indentation process. For ultra-thin films, the Li and Vlassak method, which incorporates Yu's solution and the concept of effective thickness, is highlighted as a means to correct for substrate effects. Recent developments in artificial neural network-based models for elastic modulus prediction are also explored. These advancements have greatly expanded the applicability of nanoindentation in semiconductor and MEMS device reliability assessment.

The laser (LASER), originating from the principle of stimulated emission proposed by Albert Einstein, has been a catalyst for substantial advancements across numerous industrial and scientific domains. Initially confined to research and laboratory applications, the scope of laser technology has expanded rapidly over time. This expansion is primarily due to the laser's unique characteristics, such as high-density energy output and precise beam control, which have facilitated its widespread integration into contemporary industrial practices. Specifically, laser materials processing technology enables the machining of diverse materials, including metals, ceramics, and polymers, in a non-contact manner, thereby achieving high precision without the risk of wear or contamination. As a result, laser processing has become indispensable in fields such as advanced electronics manufacturing, medical device production, aerospace, and the automotive industry. Furthermore, laser materials processing exhibits significant potential for high-precision applications that demand minimal thermal deformation of materials, such as microfabrication and the production of complex geometries. This paper provides a comprehensive examination of the development and necessity of laser processing technology, explores various laser types and their possible applications, and elucidates why laser technology has emerged as a fundamental component of modern manufacturing, alongside its trajectory for future development.

Al-Mo thin films were fabricated using combinatorial sputtering system to realize highly sensitive surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. The Al-Mo sample library was grown with various chemical compositions and electrical resistivities, which provided important information for selecting the most suitable materials for SAW devices. As the SAWs generated from piezoelectric materials are significantly affected by the resistivity and density of the interdigital transducer (IDT) electrodes, three types of Al-Mo thin films with different Al contents were fabricated. The thickness of the Al-Mo thin film used in the SAW-IDT electrode was fixed at 150 nm. As the Al content of the Al-Mo thin film decreased from 81.2 to 30.3 at%, the resistivity decreased slightly from 5.43±0.15 to 4.87±0.1×10^-5 Ω-cm, whereas the calculated density increased significantly from 4.1 to 7.9 g/㎤. The SAW device composed of Al-Mo IDT electrodes resonated at 143 MHz without frequency shifts; however, the selectivity of the resonant frequency and insertion loss deteriorated as the Al content decreased. This suggest that the resonant characteristics of the SAW devices fabricated with Al-Mo thin films were more strongly influenced by the material density rather than the electrical properties of the IDT electrodes.

Climate conditions, especially transport and storage, are a very important factor in the process of sampling and testing insulation oil in the field. The samples of insulating oil exposed to the atmosphere affect the dielectric strength, total acid number and moisture test value by oxygen and high humidity environment and may also affect the results according to the criteria specified in each test. Therefore, reliable test values for insulating oil testing require consideration of the atmospheric environment of the test site, including oxygen and humidity. In this paper, each test was conducted on insulating oil exposed to various time and humidity environments, and the effect of the atmospheric environment on the test results was analyzed by comparing and analyzing with the first insulating oil.

(Bi_1/2Na_1/2)TiO₃(BNT) piezoelectric ceramics are one of the promising materials that can replace Pb(Zr, Ti)O₃(PZT) piezoelectric ceramics due to the high electromechanical strain properties. However, it is still difficult to use practical applications because the required electric field for inducing electromechanical strain is relatively higher than that of PZT ceramics. To overcome this problem, it has been intensively studied on doping impurity or modifying other ABO₃ for BNTbased piezoelectric ceramics. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of La₂O₃ doping on the phase transition behavior and electromechanical strain properties in BNT-SrTiO₃ (BNT-ST) lead-free piezoelectric ceramics. In the case of the temperaturedependent dielectric properties, it was confirmed that a phase transition from ferroelectrics to relaxors is induced with increasing La₂O₃ content. As a result, the electromechanical strain properties of BNT-ST ceramics were improved. The highest Smax/Emax value corresponding to 300 pm/V was obtained at 2 mol% La₂O₃-dopped BNT-ST ceramics. Accordingly, this study successfully demonstrated that La₂O₃ doping is effective on the inducing phase transition from ferroelectrics to relaxors and the improving electromechanical strain properties of BNT-ST lead-free piezoelectric ceramics.

This work focuses on improving the light-harvesting efficiency of thin-film silicon solar cells through innovative multi-architecture surface modifications. To create a regular optical structure, a lithographic process was performed to form it on a glass substrate through various etching processes, from Etch-1 to Etch-3. AZO was deposited on top of the structures and re-etched to create a multi-architectural surface. These surface-modified structures improved the light absorption and overall performance of the solar cell through changes in optical and physical properties, which we will analyze. In addition, we investigated the effect of post-cleaning on the etched glass structures through EDX analysis to understand the mechanism of the etching action. The results of this study are expected to provide important guidelines for the design and fabrication of solar cells and other photovoltaic devices.

The low-temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) is a crucial factor in the development of space-grade resistors for temperature stability. Consequently, extensive research is underway to achieve zero TCR. In this study, resistors were deposited by co-sputtering nickel-chromium-based composite compositions, metals showing positive TCR, with SiO₂, introducing negative TCR components. It was observed that achieving zero TCR is feasible by adjusting the proportion of negative TCR components in the deposited thin film resistors within certain compositions. Additionally, the correlation between TCR and deposition conditions, such as sputtering power, Ar pressure, and surface roughness, was investigated. We anticipate that these findings will contribute to the study of resistors with very low TCR, thereby enhancing the reliability of space-level resistors operating under high temperatures.

Aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) as a route to reduce the fabrication cost and to obtain polycrystalline Si (p- Si) thin-film of large grain size is a promising alternative of single-crystalline (s-Si) substrate or p-Si thin-film obtained by conventional methods such as solid phase crystallization (SPC) and laser-induced crystallization (LIC). As the AIC process occurs at the interface between a-Si and Al thin-films, there are various process and interface parameters. Also, it directly means that there is a certain parametric window to obtain p-Si of large grain size having uniform crystal orientation. In this article, we investigate the effect of the various process and interface parameters to obtain p-Si of large grain size and uniform crystal orientation from the literature review. We also suggest the potential use of the p-Si as a virtual substrate for the growth of various compound semiconductors in a form of low-dimension as well as thin-film as a way for their monolithic integration on Si.

As the 4th industrial revolution based on ICT is progressing in the manufacturing field, interest in building smart factories that can be flexible and customized according to customer demand is increasing. To this end, it is necessary to maximize the efficiency of factory by performing an automated process in real time through a network communication between engineers and equipment to be able to link the established IT system. It is also necessary to collect and store real-time data from heterogeneous facilities and to analyze and visualize a vast amount of data to utilize necessary information. Therefore, in this study, four types of controllers such as PLC, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and embedded system, which are generally used to build a smart factory that can connect technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and big data, are configured. This study was conducted for the development of a program that can collect and store data in real time to visualize and manage information. For communication verification by controller, data communication was implemented and verified with the data log in the program, and 3D monitoring was implemented and verified to check the process status such as planned quantity for each controller, actual quantity, production progress, operation rate, and defect rate.

In this study, SiO₂ 20 phr, ATH 70 phr, and platinum flame retardant were mixed with raw silicone rubber and -10 kV was applied to measure electrostatic charge attenuation voltage, surface resistance, and volume resistance, and the following conclusions were obtained. When the platinum flame retardant was 0 phr, the humidity 74.6% and the temperature was 21.8℃, the potential was half-reduced to 0.63 kV, 0.57 kV, and 0.44 kV when the applied voltage was changed from -10 kV to -8 kV, and the time halved to 50% was increased to 2.40 seconds, 2.47 seconds, and 2.61 seconds. It was confirmed that as the platinum flame retardant increased from 0.1 to 0.3 phr, the potential half-reduced to 0.67 kV, 0.60 kV, and 0.595 kV decreased, and the charge potential attenuation time half-reduced to 50% decreased to 3.44 seconds, 1.78 seconds, and 1.60 seconds. It was confirmed that the surface resistance increased as the humidity decreased, and the volume resistance decreased as the platinum flame retardant increased.

There are many difficulties in the applications of smart manufacturing technology in the era of the 4th industrial revolution. In this paper, a test bed was built to aim for acquiring smart manufacturing technology, and the test bed was designed to acquire basic technologies necessary for PLC (Programmable Logic Controller), HMI, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and big data. By building a vehicle maintenance lift that can be easily accessed by the general public, PLC control technology and HMI drawing technology can be acquired, and by using cloud services, workers can respond to emergencies and alarms regardless of time and space. In addition, by managing and monitoring data for smart manufacturing, it is possible to acquire basic technologies necessary for embedded systems, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and big data. It is expected that the improvement of smart manufacturing technology capability according to the results of this study will contribute to the effect of creating added value according to the applications of smart manufacturing technology in the future.

Aluminum is a lightweight metal and has excellent properties with regard to conductivity, workability, and strength. It has been used in various industries owing to its economic benefits. To improve upon the mechanical properties and processability by adding various alloying elements to aluminum, improving the corrosion resistance and heat resistance by electrochemically forming a porous anodic film having a thickness and hardness on the surface of the aluminum alloy is crucial. In this study, the aluminum 6061 alloy was controlled by an anodization process in a 0.3M oxalic acid electrolyte at room temperature to investigate the oxide film parameters such as porosity and thickness depending on the modulating applied voltage and time. The anodizing experiment was performed by increasing the time from 1 h to 9 h at 2-h intervals at applied voltages of 50 V and 60 V.

Vocational education needs to be transformed to cultivate talents with diverse fusion competencies, which is in line with the recent changes that have become a part of the complex technological developments in the 4th Industrial Revolution. Therefore, it is very important for college graduates to obtain employment skills as they are required to prepare for careers within the complex environments of future societies. With the transition to the Internet of Things (IoT)-based control in the manufacturing industry, the development of technological education and related training programs is required to cultivate practical talents for students who have acquired not only the information on existing programmable logic controller (PLC)-based technology, but also that on embedded programming technology. Therefore, to develop an NCS-based education program for analog signal processing to ensure that programming can easily be learned for cultivating practical talent, this study summarizes the opinions of field experts, selects the appropriate NCS competency unit, and designs an adequate technology education training program.

Small-scale production control systems for smart manufacturing are becoming increasingly necessary as the manufacturing industry seeks to maximize manufacturing efficiency as the demand for customized product production increases. Correspondingly, the development of an embedded system to realize this capability is becoming important. In this study, we developed an embedded system based on an open source system that is cheaper than a widely applied programmable logic controller (PLC)-based production control system that is easier to install, configure, and process than a conventional relay control panel. This embedded system is system is based on a low-power, high-performance Cortex M4 processor and can be applied to smart manufacturing. It is designed to improve the development environment and compatibility of existing PLCs, control small-scale production systems, and enable data collection through heterogeneous communication. The real-time response characteristics were confirmed through an operation test for input/output control and data collection, and it was confirmed that they can be used in industrial sites.

In this study, we performed the deposition of Al thin film using a DC magnetron sputtering method. To evaluate electrical and structural properties, the growth conditions were changed in terms of two functions, namely, sputtering power ranging from 41.6 to 216 W and film growth rate ranging from 5.35 to 26.39 nm/min. The growth rate and the microstructure were characterized by a scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. The plane of crystalline growth showed that the preferential (111) direction and defects due to the grain boundary increased with DC power. The resistivity of the Al film over 50 nm showed a constant value by horizontal grain growth. Our results can be applicable for the preparation of nano-templates for anodic aluminum oxide.

The alignment characteristics of liquid crystal (LC) molecules on a solution-derived lanthanum zinc oxide (LZO) film under ion-beam irradiation were demonstrated. Using the solution process, an LZO film was fabricated on the glass substrate and cured at 100℃. Afterwards, ion-beam irradiation was performed following the LC alignment method. Using this film, an LC cell was fabricated and the characteristics of the LC alignment were verified. Cross polarizing microscopy and the crystal rotation method were used to investigate the alignment state of the LC molecules on the LZO films. Furthermore, field emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to explore the effect of the ion-beam irradiation on the LZO film. Through these, it was confirmed that the ion-beam irradiation induced surface modification, which demonstrated anisotropic physical and chemical surface characteristics. Due to this, uniform LC alignment was achieved. Finally, the residual DC and anchoring energy of the LC cell based on the LZO films were measured using a capacitance-voltage curve.

Porcelain insulators have been used mainly for power line fixing and electrical insulation in transmission towers. Porcelain insulators have generally a 30 years desired life, but over 50% exceed their life expectancy. Since the damage to porcelain insulators is usually accompanied by enormous loss of human resource material, their efficient maintenance has emerged as an important issue. In this regard, this study applied a frequency response function (FRF) for integrity assessment of the insulator. The characteristics of the FRF according to damage types were identified and analyzed by the change in natural frequencies, curve shape, attenuation, and Nyquist diagram stability. The results showed significant differences in the FRF according to damage types, which can be used as basic data for the effective integrity assessment of porcelain insulators.

SiO_x nanoparticles were granulated, and their microstructures and effects on electrochemical behaviors were investigated. In spite of the promising electrochemical performance of SiO_x, nanoparticles have limitations such as high surface area, low density, and difficulty in handling during slurry processing. Granulation can be one solution. In this study, pelletizing and annealing were conducted to create particles with sizes of several decades of micron. Decrease in surface area directly influences the initial charge and discharge process when granules are applied as anode materials for Li-ion batteries. Lower surface area is key to decreasing the amount of irreversible phase-formation, such as Li₂Si₂O₅, Li₂SiO₃ and LuSiO₄, as well as forming the solid electrolyte interface. Additionally, aggregation of nanoparticles is required to obtain further enhancement of the electrochemical behavior due to restrictions that there be no Li₄SiO₄-related reaction during the first discharge process.

This research introduces the sputtered IZO thin film transistor (TFT) with solution-processed Al₂O₃ diffusion layer. IZO is one of the most commonly used amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS) TFT. However, most AOS TFTs have many defects that degrade performance. Especially oxygen vacancy in the active layer. In previous research, aluminum was used as a carrier suppressor by binding the oxygen vacancy and making a strong bond with oxygen atoms. In this paper, we use a solution-processed Al₂O₃ diffusion layer to fabricate stable IZO TFTs. A double-layer solution-processed Al2O3-sputtered IZO TFT showed better performance and stability, compared to normal sputtered IZO TFT.

In this study, 20.8% of a p-type Si bifacial solar cell was used to develop a photovoltaic (PV) module to obtain the maximum power under a limited installation area. The transparent back sheet material was replaced during fabrication with a white one, which is opaque in commercial products. This is very beneficial for the generation of more electricity, owing to the additional power generation via absorption of light from the rear side. A new model is suggested herein to predict the power of the bifacial PV module by considering the backside reflections from the roof and/or environment. This model considers not only the frontside reflection, but also the nonuniformity of the backside light sources. Theoretical predictions were compared to experimental data to prove the validity of this model, the error range for which ranged from 0.32% to 8.49%. Especially, under 700 W/m2, the error rate was as low as 2.25%. This work could provide theoretical and experimental bases for application to a distributed and microgrid network.

Because silicon thin film solar cells have a high absorption coefficient in visible light, they can absorb 90% of the solar spectrum in a 1-μm-thick layer. Silicon thin film solar cells also have high transparency and are lightweight. Therefore, they can be used for building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems. However, the contact electrode needs to be replaced for fabricating silicon thin film solar cells in BIPV systems, because most of the silicon thin film solar cells use metal electrodes that have a high reflectivity and low transmittance. In this study, we replace the conventional aluminum top electrode with a transparent aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO) electrode, the band level of which matches well with that of the intrinsic layer of the silicon thin film solar cell and has high transmittance. We show that the AZO effectively replaces the top metal electrode and the bottom fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate without a noticeable degradation of the photovoltaic characteristics.

Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon (a-Si:H) is used as an emitter layer in HIT (heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) solar cells. Its low band gap and low optical properties (low transmittance and high absorption) cause parasitic absorption on the front side of a solar cell that significantly reduces the solar cell blue response. To overcome this, research on CSC (carrier Selective Contacts) is being actively carried out to reduce carrier recombination and improve carrier transportation as a means to approach the theoretical efficiency of silicon solar cells. Among CSC materials, molybdenum oxide (MoO_x) is most commonly used for the hole transport layer (HTL) of a solar cell due to its high work function and wide band gap. This paper analyzes the electrical and optical properties of MoO_x thin films for use in the HTL of HIT solar cells. The optical properties of MoO_x show better performance than a-Si:H and μc-SiO_x:H.

Electrical and optical properties of the AC voltage driven organic light-emitting diodes were investigated by measuring the electroluminescence of the device. Device structure of ITO(170 nm)/TPD(40 nm)/Alq3(60 nm)/LiF(0.5 nm)/Al(100 nm) was manufactured using a thermal evaporation. Sinusoidal and square-type AC voltage was applied to the device using a function generator. Amplitude of the applied voltage was 9.0 V, and a frequency was varied from 50 Hz to 50 kHz. Electroluminescence out of the device was measured in a Si photodetector simultaneously with the applied voltage together. An intensity and a delayed residual luminescence from the device were depended on the frequency of the sinusoidal voltage. It is thought to be due to a contribution of the capacitive nature in the equivalent circuit of the device. An electron mobility was estimated using a time constant obtained from the luminescence of the device driven by the square-type AC voltage.

A vacuum Interrupter (VI), a core part that composes the breaking part of medium-voltage vacuum circuit breaker (VCB), has the excellent insulation performance and arc-extinguishing capability. SF6 gas had been used for the external insulation of VIs since the dielectric strength of SF6 gas is superior to that of other insulation gases. However, because of environmental problems related with global warming, a solid-insulated technology was recently researched. The functionally graded material (FGM), as changing spatially the distribution of the relative permittivity inside an insulator, can reduce the electric field stress at the specific region. Especially, the external insulation performance of the VI with the molded FGM insulator is greatly improved as compared with that of the existing VI or the VI with a new external shield. In this paper, the effectiveness of this FGM insulator is verified by the numerical simulation.

Ni ink for electrohydrodynamic (EHD) continuous jet printing has been developed by using Ni nanoparticles mixed with conhesiveness provider. EHD continuous jet printing was used in order to realize 20 μm pattern width. Ink stability was investigated by using Turbi-scan which monitors agglomeration and precipitation of nanoparticles in the ink for three days. The Turbi-scan results showed that the formulated Ni ink had been stable for 3 days without any indication of precipitation across the entire ink. Antireflection coating (ARC) layer in crystalline solar cell wafers was removed by laser ablation technique leading to the formation of 84 grooves where the Ni ink was printed by EHD continuous jet printing. The printability and microstructure of EHD-jet-printed Ni lines were investigated by using optical and electron microscopes. 84 Ni lines with the width less than 20 μm were successfully printed by one-time printing without any misalignment and fill the laser-ablated ARC grooves.

In this paper, EPR (ethylene propylene rubber) insulation material was accelerated degradation test at 121℃, 136℃, 151℃, and experiment the typical EAB (elongation at break) at mechanical characteristics analysis. It is shown that the failure-time at the point of 50% of the initial value of Elongation rate to obtain the activation energy. The failure-time was shown each 5,219 hr, 3,165 hr, and 668 hr at three temperatures. In order to derive the activation energy, Arrhenius methodology was applied. Also, we got the Arrhenius plot from three accelerated temperatures. The activation energy values got 0.98 eV from EAB test. The experimental data were evaluated for estimating the probability density, and the suitable distribution by using statistical program MINITAB. It is shown that EAB data by the acceleration thermal degradation is most suitable for the Weibull distribution.

This study examined the size and shape of the nano-silver particle through the analysis of electrical resistance when synthesizing nano-sized silver by using the chemical liquid reduction. Changes in particle behaviors formed according to the changes in electronic characteristics by electric resistance in each time period in the beginning of reduction reaction in a course of synthesizing the nano-silver particle formation were studied. In addition, analysis was conducted on particle behaviors according to the changes in concentration of AgNO3 and in temperature at the time of reduction and nucleation and growth course when synthesizing the particles based on the particle behaviors were also examined. As the concentration of AgNO3 increased, the same amount of resistance of approximately 5 Ω was increased in terms of initial electronic resistance. Furthermore, according to the result of formation of nuclear growth graph and estimation of slope based on estimated resistance, slops of 6.25×10-3, 2.89×10-3, and 1.85×10-3 were derived from the concentrations of 0.01 M, 0.05 M, and 0.1 M, respectively. As the concentration of AgNO3 increased, the more it was dominantly influenced by the nuclear growth areas in the initial phase of reduction leading to increase the size and cohesion of particles. At the time of reduction of nano-silver particle, the increases of initial resistance were 4 Ω, 4.2 Ω, 5 Ω, and 5.3 Ω, respectively as the temperature increased. As the temperature was increased into 23℃, 40℃, 60℃, and 80℃, slopes were formed as 4.54×10-3, 4.65×10-3, 5.13×10-3, and 5.42×10-3 respectively. As the temperature increased, the particles became minute due to the increase of nuclear growth area in the particle in initial period of reduction.

In this paper to improve the ionic conduction properties, lanthanum silicate apatite La9.33(SiO4)6O2 ceramic, which substituted by V ions at Si-site, were fabricated by the mixed-oxide method. And we investigated the structural and electrical properties of La9.33(Si6-□v□)6O26 specimens with variation of dopants for the application of solid oxide fuel cells. The sintering temperature of La9.33(Si6-□v□)O26 specimens decreased from 1,600℃ to 1,400℃. As results of X-ray diffraction patterns, all La9.33(Si6-□-□)O26 specimens showed the formation of a complete solid solution in a apatite polycrystallin structure. But the specimens doped with more than 1.5mol% showed the second phase, La2 SiO5 and SiO2. The specimen dopants with 1.0 mol% showed the maximum ion conductivity. Ion conducting and activation energy of the La9.33(Si5V1)O26 specimens were about 7.8×10-4 S/cm 1.62 eV at 600℃, respectively.

Because of the development of LED technology, products due to high output and compact, thematerial with high thermal conductivity has been developed. Now that heat radiating part of the LEDlamp is currently used for die casting of aluminum. The development of aluminum with excellent thermalconductivity is required. In this study, we measured the thermal properties and compared them while weproduced the alloy by changing the component of die casting aluminum. From this study, the thermalconductivity and thermal resistance of the developed alloy were superior to die casting aluminum.