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Current designs for the geological disposal of high‐level radioactive waste in Japan use carbon steel overpack containers surrounded by a mixed bentonite/sand buffer material, which will be located in a purpose‐built repository deep underground. Though there are many suitable sites for a repository in Japan, the coastal areas are preferable from a logistical point of view. It is, therefore, important to evaluate the long‐term performance of the carbon steel overpack and the mixed bentonite/sand buffer material in the saline groundwaters of coastal areas. In the current study, the passivation behavior and initial corrosion rates of carbon steel with and without mixed bentonite/sand were tested as a function of the pH and salt concentration in representative saline groundwaters. The main findings indicate that the passivation of carbon steel encapsulated in a buffer material will be unlikely in a saline environment, even at high pH (12), and that the corrosion rate of carbon steel is more strongly affected by the presence of the buffer material than by the salt concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High‐mobility, high‐stability InGaZnO (IGZO) thin‐film transistors (TFTs) were fabricated with the aid of phenyltriethoxysilane (PTES) self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) instead of traditional passivation layer. The effect of PTES on the performance IGZO‐TFTs was investigated, systematically. Compared to the IGZO‐TFTs without PTES modification, PTES‐treated IGZO‐TFTs exhibited higher mobility and smaller hysteresis of transfer curves, owing to less adsorption/desorption effect on the IGZO surface and mild self‐assembly process. Meanwhile, IGZO‐TFTs modified with PTES SAMs exhibited a more excellent electrical stability with a threshold voltage shift (ΔVth) of only 0.17 V than the unmodified one with a ΔVth of 5.38 V, which was attributed to the formation of hydrophobic PTES SAMs on the IGZO surface and the well‐ordered interface between PTES and back channel surface. © 2020 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]