We report the effect of Standard Clean-1 (SC-1) cleaning to remove residual Ti layers after silicidation to prevent Al diffusion into Si wafer for Ti Schottky barrier diodes (Ti-SBD). Regardless of SC-1 cleaning, the presence of oxygen atoms is confirmed by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) depth profile analysis between Al and Ti-silicide layers. Al atoms at the interface of Ti-silicide and Si wafer are detected, when the SC-1 cleaning is not conducted after rapid thermal annealing. On the other hand, Al atoms are not found at the interface of Ti-SBD after executing SC-1 cleaning. Al diffusion into the interface between Ti-silicide and Si wafer may be caused by thermal stress at the Ti-silicide layer. The difference of the thermal expansion coefficients of Ti and Ti-silicide gives rise to thermal stress at the interface during the Al layer deposition and sintering processes. Although a longer sintering time is conducted for Ti-SBD, the Al atoms do not diffuse into the surface of the Si wafer. Therefore, the removal of the Ti layer by the SC-1 cleaning can prevent Al diffusion for Ti-SBD.

Hot-press forming(HPF) steel can be applied successfully to auto parts because of its superior mechanical properties. However, its resistances to aqueous corrosion and the subsequent hydrogen embrittlement(HE) decrease significantly when the steel is exposed to corrosive environments. Considering that the resistances are greatly dependent on the properties of coating materials formed on the steel surface, the characteristics of the corrosion and hydrogen diffusion behaviors regarding the types of coating material should be clearly understood. Electrochemical polarization and impedance measurements reveal a higher corrosion potential and polarization resistance and a lower corrosion current of the Al-coating compared with Zn-coating. Furthermore, it was expected that the diffusion kinetics of the hydrogen atoms would be much slower in the Al-coating, and this would be due mainly to the much lower diffusion coefficient of hydrogen in the Al-coating with a face-centered cubic structure. The superior surface inhibiting effect of the Al-coating, however, is degraded by the formation of local cracks in the coated layer under severe stress conditions, and therefore further study will be necessary to gain a clearer understanding of the effect of cracks formed on the coated layer on the subsequent corrosion and hydrogen diffusion behaviors.

We investigate the microstructural and magnetic property changes of DyH2, Cu + DyH2, and Al + DyH2 diffusion-treated NdFeB sintered magnets with the post annealing (PA) temperature. The coercivity of all the diffusiontreated magnets increases with increasing heat treatment temperature except at 910oC, where it decreases slightly. Moreover, at 880oC, the coercivity increases by 3.8 kOe in Cu and 4.7 kOe in Al-mixed DyH2-coated magnets, whereas this increase is relatively low (3.0 kOe) in the magnet coated with only DyH2. Both Cu and Al have an almost similar effect on the coercivity improvement, particularly over the heat treatment temperature range of 790-880oC. The diffusivity and diffusion depth of Dy increases in those magnets that are treated with Cu or Al-mixed DyH2, mainly because of the comparatively easy diffusion path provided by Cu and Al owing to their solubility in the Nd-rich grain boundary phase. The formation of a highly anisotropic (Nd, Dy)2Fe14B phase layer, which acts as the shell in the core-shell-type structure so as to prevent the reverse domain movement, is the cause of enhanced coercivity of diffusion-treated Nd-Fe-B magnets.

Al과 Si사이에서 Ti의 충진처리가 확산방지막 성능에 미치는 영향에 대해서 조사하였다. TiN의 충진처리는 450˚C의 N2 분위기에서 30분간 열처리함으로써 행하였다. TEM 분석을 통해 갓 증착된 TiN의 결정립 사이에는 약 10-20Å 정도의 고체물질이 없거나 TiN에 비해 밀도가 매우 낮은 공간이 존재함을 알 수 있었다. 또한 충진처리된 TiN의 경우에는 이러한 공간의 폭이 10Å 이하로 줄어듦을 알 수 있었다. RBS와 AES 분석에 의해 갓 증착된 TiN는 dir 7at.% 정도의 산소를 함유하고 있었고, 충진처리된 TiN는 약 10-15at.%의 산소를 함유하고 있었다. 갓 증착된 TiN와 충진처리된 TiN를 확산방지막으로 시험한 결과, 갓 증착된 TiN는 650˚C, 1시간의 열처리 후에 Al 스파이크와 Si 패임자국의 형성으로 이해 파괴되었다. 하지만 충진처리된 TiN의 경우에는 같은 열처리 조건에서 Al 스파이크나 Si 패임자국을 전혀 찾아볼수 없었다. 따라서, TiN의 충진처리가 Al과 Si사이에서 확산 방지막 성능을 크게 향상시켜주는 효과가 있음을 알 수 있었다. 이와 같은 충진처리 효과는 TiN의 결정립계의 간격이 줄어듦에 의해서 빠른 확산 경로인 결정립계를 통한 확산이 감소하는 것에 기인하는 것으로 이해된다.