Echinochloa species are among the most troublesome weeds in rice cultivation, and grow in a broad habitat range in Korea. Although various ecotypes of Echinochloa have been collected as germplasm for future studies, it has been difficult to classify them due to their high level of morphological similarity. This study was thus conducted to develop and investigate the phylogenetic relationships between 77 Echinochloa accessions with the use of 23 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers and 24 morphological traits. Of 77 Echinochloa accessions, including 57 accessions from Korea and 5 reference species, late watergrass was clearly clustered as a distinctive group from barnyardgrass and other Echinochloa species. In this analysis, we also identified core genetic and morphological markers that can be used for the future identification and classification of Echinochloa species. Five out of 23 SSR makers produced distinctive bands that discriminate late watergrass from barnyardgrass and other Echinochloa species. Four morphological traits of the reproductive organs were the most influential contributors for classifying Echinochloa species. Although there was no clear consensus generated in this study between SSR markers and morphological trait analyses, our results support the potential use of the selected SSR markers and morphological traits in future studies of Echinochloa.

Cultivated soybeans [Glycinemax (L.) Merr.] have various flower colours such as dark purple, purple, light purple, pink, magenta, near white and white. About one-third of the soybean accessions in the United States Department of Agriculture – Germplasm Resource Information Network (USDA-GRIN) Soybean Germplasm Collections have white flowers and are the second dominant accessions after the purple-flowered accessions. Earlier studies have shown that the w1 recessive allele of the W1 gene encoding flavonoid 3′,5′-hydroxylase produces white flowers. In the present study, we aimed to understand why the white-flowered accessions have become abundant among the cultivated soybeans and what their genetic and regional origin is. For this purpose, 99 landraces with white flowers and 39 landraces with purple flowers from eight Asian countries and Russia were analysed with regard to the nucleotide sequences of the W1 locus. We not only found that the w1 alleles of the 99 white-flowered landraces were identical to those of the white-flowered Williams 82, but also found that these w1 alleles displayed no polymorphism at all. By carrying out a phylogenetic analysis, we were able to identify a group with W1 alleles from which the w1 allele might have diverged.

This study investigated the relationships of three major aquatic assemblages (diatom, macroinvertebrate, and fish) and environmental variables, including sub-basin, hydrology, land cover, and water quality variables on multiple scales. Samples were collected at 720 sampling sites on the Korean nationwide scale. Geological variables, including altitude and slope, showed a strong positive correlation with proportions of forest in land cover types and cobbles in substrates, while they were negatively correlated with water quality variables, including conductivity and total phosphorus. Considering the concordance of the different assemblages, species richness of fish and macroinvertebrates displayed significant correlation, and diatoms were significantly correlated with fish. However, diatoms did not show significant correlation with macroinvertebrates. Altitude and slope showed significant correlation with all biological variables of the three assemblages. Macroinvertebrates and fish showed positive relations with large substrate sizes. Indices of diatoms and macroinvertebrates well reflected the perturbation of water quality variables. However, fish indices showed a relatively low association with water quality variables, compared with those of diatoms and macroinvertebrates. These patterns were also confirmed by the ordination and prediction of biological indices with environmental variables through the learning process of a self-organizing map as well as random forest. Overall, our study supports the concept of multi-scale habitat filters and functional organization in streams, and is consistent with the recommended use of multiple biological indices with more than one assemblage for the assessment of the biotic integrity of aquatic ecosystems.

This paper provides an overview of the development and application of the National Aquatic Ecological Monitoring Program (NAEMP) in Korea, which uses biological and habitat–riparian criteria for river/stream and watershed management. Development of NAEMP began in 2003, with recognition by the Korean Ministry of Environment (MOE) of the limitations of applying chemical parameters (e.g., biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)) as the principal targets of water environment management. Ecosystem health criteria under NAEMP were developed from 2003 to 2006. Candidate sites for monitoring were also screened and established across the country. NAEMP was implemented in 2007, and since then a standard protocol of nationwide monitoring based on multi-criteria has been implemented to assess the ecological condition of rivers and streams. The monitoring results indicate that many Korean rivers and streams are severely degraded, with biological conditions that are much worse than their water chemistry suggests. In 2009, 24% of rivers and streams were in classes C (Fair) and D (Poor) for BOD, but more than 71, 53, and 27% were categorized as Fair to Poor according to fish, diatom, and benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages, respectively. NAEMP is promising in that the results have already had great impacts on policy making and scientific research relevant to lotic water environment and watershed management in Korea. In the future, NAEMP results will be used to develop more aggressive regulations for the preservation and restoration of rivers/streams, riparian buffer areas and watersheds. Another future aim of the NAEMP is to develop aquatic ecological modeling based on the monitoring results.

In this study, Ruthenium (Ru) chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) slurry was studied and developed to apply it for the formation of Ru bottom electrode in DRAM capacitor. An acidic chemical was chosen as both oxidant and etchant. The effects of the chemical on polishing and etching behavior were investigated as functions of chemical concentration and pHs. The static etch rate of Ru increased with increase of chosen chemical concentration. Also, thin Ru oxide was generated in chemical solution. The highest etching and removal rate were obtained in slurry of pH 6. Ru over etching was generated due to the high etch rate of Ru, and then good planarity was not obtained. However, because Ru over etching was prevented due to low etch rate of Ru, the plarnarity and isolation of each capacitor in slurry of pH 9 was acquired successfully.

Silver nanoparticles dispersed in a silica matrix were made by the consolidation of a Ag-attached silica colloid, which was synthesized via the electrolysis of a pure Ag electrode, the reduction of Ag+ ions by H2, and the nucleation and growth of Ag particles on the silica nanoparticles in water. This simple process produced Ag/silica nanocomposites with a high concentration and narrow size distribution of nanoparticles, which was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. As estimated by Raman and photoluminescence measurements, the quantity of broken oxygen bonds was increased with increasing Ag concentration due to the intervention of Ag ions as structural modifiers in the silica network structure. Ag ions in the matrix are probably a residue of the Ag+ ions that could not be reduced by H2 during the electrolysis/reduction reaction. The optical-absorption spectra and the HCl-soaking test suggested that a chemical-interface damping effect, which was caused by electron transfer from the metal particles to the oxide matrix, dominates the optical-absorption properties in this system.

A new approach is proposed to obtain fast crystallizing materials based on a conventional GeSbTe alloy for rewritable phase change optical data storage. By means of co-sputtering, Ge1Sb2Te4alloy was mixed with Sn1Bi2Te4alloy so as to form pseudo-binary alloys (Ge1Sb2Te4)1-x(Sn1Bi2Te4)x (x is a mole fraction). From structural and optical analyses of the co- sputtered and annealed alloy films, the formation of stable crystalline single phases was observed along with a Vegard's law behavior, suggesting a homogeneous mixing of the two alloys. By use of a 4 layered disk with (Ge1Sb2Te4)0.85(Sn1Bi2Te4)0.15 recording layer, a preliminary test of writing and erasing was carried out and the results were compared with the case of the disk with Ge1Sb2Te4recording layer. The (Ge1Sb2Te4)0.85(Sn1Bi2Te4)0.15 recording layer was found to yield markedly higher erasibility, especially with increasing disk linear velocity.

Two-step surface-treatment is introduced to obtain low resistance Pt contacts to p-type GaN. The first step is performed after the mesa etching process using buffered oxide etch (BOE) and ammonium sulfide [(NH4)2Sx]. This is followed by the second step using BOE. The Pt contact, which was treated sequentially using ultrasonically boiled BOE (10 min) and boiled (NH4)2Sx (10 min), produces a specific contact resistance of 3.0 (±3.8)×10−5 Ωcm2. However, the contact, that was simply BOE-treated, yields 3.1 (±1.1)×10−2 Ωcm2. This indicates that the two-step surface treatment is promising technique for obtaining high quality ohmic contacts to p-GaN. Investigation of the electronic transport mechanisms using current-voltage-temperature (I-V-T) data indicates that thermionic field emission is dominant in the surface-treated Pt contacts.

(200)-oriented Pt thin films were deposited on SiO2/Si substrates by dc magnetron sputtering using Ar/O2 gas mixtures. Oxygen incorporation into Pt films changed deposition rate, resistivity, stress, and preferred orientation of the films. Increase in film resistivity and decrease in tensile stress were presumed to be the results of the incorporated oxygen into grain boundaries, while the change of preferred orientation resulted from the oxygen incorporation into the Pt lattice. The preferential growth of (200) planes with less total strain energy from the incorporated oxygen resulted in strong (200) preferred orientation in Pt films.

Highly (200)-oriented Pt films on SiO2/Si substrates were successfully prepared by a combination of a dc magnetron sputtering using Ar/O2 gas mixtures and subsequent controlled annealing. The intensity ratio of (200) to (111) planes (I200/I111) was over 200. The (200)-oriented Pt microcrystallites were less susceptible to amorphization due to their lower strain energy with oxygen incorporation than (111)-oriented ones. The controlled grain growth from the selected (200)-oriented seed microcrystallites during subsequent annealing provided a kinetic pathway where grain growth of the seed microcrystallites was predominant, while suppressing the nucleation of surface energy-driven, (111)-oriented seed microcrystallites and subsequent (111) preferred orientation.

Two-step surface-treatment is introduced to obtain low resistance Pt contacts to ptype GaN. The first step is performed after the mesa etching process using buffered oxide etch (BOE) and ammonium sulfide [(NH4)2Sx]. This is followed by the second step using BOE. The Pt contact, which was treated sequentially using ultrasonically boiled BOE (10 min) and boiled (NH4)2Sx (10 min), produces a specific contact resistance of 3.0 (±3.8)×10-5 Ωcm2. However, the contact, that was simply BOE-treated, yields 3.1 (±1.1)×10-2 Ωcm2. This indicates that the two-step surface treatment is promising technique for obtaining high quality ohmic contacts to p-GaN. Investigation of the electronic transport mechanisms using current-voltage-temperature (I-V-T) data indicates that thermionic field emission is dominant in the surface-treated Pt contacts.

Amorphous Ta-Si-N thin film was deposited by dc sputterring of Ta5Si3 target in (Ar+N2) atmosphere. The crystal structure and the thermal stability of Ta-Si-N thin films were investigated by XRD, RBS, AES, Nomarski microscope, and TEM. When the concentration of nitrogen in Ta-Si-N thin film was higher than 40 at.%, the Ta-Si-N thin film remained the amorphous state after the annealing at 1100°C for 60 min. In this case, the Cu diffusion was prevented by the amorphous Ta-Si-N thin film even if the annealing temperature increased up to 900°C for 30 min. Whereas, the Ta-Si-N thin film with nitrogen concentration less than 40 at. % was transformed from the amorphous to the polycrystalline TaSi2 phases after the annealing at 900°C for 60 min and failed to prevent the Cu diffusion after the annealing at 700°C for 30 min.

Amorphous Ta-Si-N thin film was deposited by dc sputterring of Ta5Si3 target in (Ar+N2) atmosphere. The crystal structure and the thermal stability of Ta-Si-N thin films were investigated by XRD, RBS, AES, Nomarski microscope, and TEM. When the concentration of nitrogen in Ta-Si-N thin film was higher than 40 at.%, the Ta-Si-N thin film remained the amorphous state after the annealing at 1100°C for 60 min. In this case, the Cu diffusion was prevented by the amorphous Ta-Si-N thin film even if the annealing temperature increased up to 900°C for 30 min. Whereas, the Ta-Si-N thin film with nitrogen concentration less than 40 at. % was transformed from the amorphous to the polycrystalline TaSi2 phases after the annealing at 900°C for 60 min and failed to prevent the Cu diffusion after the annealing at 700°C for 30 min.

Pt thin films were deposited by a DC magnetron sputtering with Ar/O2 gas mixtures. Due to the oxygen incorporation into the Pt films, deposition rate and resistivity of as-deposited Pt thin films increased with oxygen fraction in the sputtering gas. No peaks from crystalline Pt oxides were observed by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and excessive oxygen incorporation into Pt lead to an amorphous Pt oxide formation. More oxygen could be incorporated in the Pt thin films deposited at lower temperatures and at higher total pressures. Incorporated oxygen was completely removed after an annealing at 800 °C for an hour in air ambient, as the resistivity of the Pt thin films recovered their bulk resistivity values. Tensile stress of the Pt films decreased with oxygen incorporation, and approached a saturation level at high resistivity of the films, presumably due to the formation of amorphous Pt oxides.

Platinum(Pt) films were sputter-deposited on Si02/Si substrates under the mixed gas atmosphere of Ar and O2. Under certain deposition conditions, the films were oriented such that the (100) direction is normal to the substrate surface. The formation of the (100) texture was affected by the gas pressure and film thickness. After annealing at 650 °C for 1 hour, (100) oriented Pt films with the resistivity of pure Pt were obtained. The annealed Pt films all passed a tape adhesion test and had no defects such as hillocks or pinholes. The experimental results from this work are presented.