Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) usingpolydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)-based organic-inorganic hybrid materials as binders can be used to prepare alumina-binder composites on metal substrates. Herein, we investigated the deposition mechanism of PDMS-based polymers. The composition and porosity of EPD composites can be controlled by adjusting the EPD condition, and shape of alumina particles.

We fabricated silicon solar cells with spin-coated sol-gel alumina passivation layers on the rear side. Spin-coated alumina passivation films have moderate passivation quality and are inferior to atomic layer deposited passivation films. However, low-cost and low temperature process of the sol-gel deposition is still beneficial for the cells using commercially available Cz silicon wafers. Thus, we consider an applicability of the spin-coated alumina passivation layer for rear side passivation. Dependence of cell efficiency on contact spacing and contact diameter of a rear electrode was investigated by both experiments and numerical calculation. The experimental results indicated that conversion efficiency of the cell is enhanced from 9.1% to 11.1% by optimizing an aperture ratio and contact spacing of the rear passivation layers. Numerical calculation indicated that small contact diameter with low aperture ratio of a rear passivation layer is preferable to achieve good cell performance in our experimental condition. We confirmed the effectivity of the spin-coated alumina passivation films for rear surface passivation of the low-cost silicon solar cells.

The individual steps of UV imprint lithography have been explained in detail from the points of manufacturing nano-structures. The applications to photonic devices have been also introduced.

Alumina supported cobalt-ferrum catalysts were prepared using wet impregnation method by applying 3 different conditions, namely hotplate (A), sonication (B) and soaking (C). The alumina supported cobalt-ferrum catalysts were applied in the synthesis of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) using catalytic chemical vapour deposition (CCVD) technique. The morphology and particle size of the cobalt-ferrum catalysts and the MWNTs yield were examined by field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) while the surface elemental composition of the samples was obtained by energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The morphology of catalysts A, B and C were found to be different, the particle sizes were ranged from 20-40 nm. The diameters of the MWNTs yield from samples A, B and C were found to be related to the catalyst particle size, thus the smaller the catalyst particle, the thinner the MWNTs obtained. The MWNTs with smaller diameter were obtained with higher purity and quality becuase the nanotube surface are free from amorphous carbon. Therefore, different catalyst preparation methods resulted in different sizes of the catalyst particle in order to synthesize MWNTs with desired diameter.

We developed a glass ferrule fiber optic connector. During development, we also studied wear-resistant coating technology for preventing scratches on the surface of a glass ferrule. The method of coating was sputtering, and the material was alumina. We confirmed that a thin uniform coating could be formed on the ferrule surface to improve the durability of glass ferrule connectors.

This paper describes a nondestructive measurement method for complex permittivity of dielectric material at pseudo microwave frequencies. The resonator used in this study has a cylindrical cavity filled with a sapphire material of a well known complex permittivity. The resonator is divided into two parts at the center. A dielectric substrate specimen is clamped with these halves. Relative permittivity εand loss tangent tan δ of the specimen are obtained at 3 GHz using the TE011 resonance mode. The accuracy of the present method is evaluated through the comparison of the measured values by the new method with those at around 10 GHz by the conventional empty cavity resonator method. The errors of measurements are smaller than 1% and 1105 for εand tan δ, respectively.

This paper presents ceramic multi-layer substrates for mobile communication using alumina-glass composite ceramics and co-fired copper conductors. Electrical characteristics in GHz frequencies of the substrate, copper conductor, transmission line, via hole and coupling between the striplines were evaluated. The results showed that the ceramic multi-layer substrate had good electrical characteristics enough for GHz-band applications. Using the ceramic multi-layer substrates, one can drastically reduce the size of RF circuit boards for mobile communication equipment.