• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.128-128
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• 2010

In this study, we investigated the evolution and reduction of the surface roughness during the high-speed chemical dry thinning process of Si wafers. The direct injection of NO gas into the reactor during the supply of F radicals from NF3 remote plasmas was very effective in increasing the Si thinning rate, due to the NO-induced enhancement of the surface reaction, but resulted in the significant roughening of the thinned Si surface. However, the direct addition of Ar and N2 gas, together with NO gas, decreased the root mean square (RMS) surface roughness of the thinned Si wafer significantly. The process regime for the increasing of the thinning rate and concomitant reduction of the surface roughness was extended at higher Ar gas flow rates. In this way, Si wafer thinning rate as high as $20\;{\mu}m/min$ and very smooth surface roughness was obtained and the mechanical damage of silicon wafer was effectively removed. We also measured die fracture strength of thinned Si wafer in order to understand the effect of chemical dry thinning on removal of mechanical damage generated during mechanical grinding. The die fracture strength of the thinned Si wafers was measured using 3-point bending test and compared. The results indicated that chemical dry thinning with reduced surface roughness and removal of mechanical damage increased the die fracture strength of the thinned Si wafer.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.73-78
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• 2004

A highly sensitive detecting method has been developed for determining part per billion of sulfur in $H_2S$/Ar plasma. The method is based on the excitation of Ar/$H_2S\;or\;Ar/H_2S/O_2$ mixture in hollow cathode glow discharge sustained by radiofrequency (RF) or 60 Hz AC power and the spectroscopic measurement of the intensity of emission lines from electronically excited $S_2^*\;or\;SO_2^*$ species, respectively. The RF or AC power needed for the excitation did not exceed 30 W at a gas pressure maintained at several mbar. The emission intensity from the $SO_2^*$ species showed excellent linear response to the sulfur concentration ranging from 5 ppbv, which correspond to S/N = 5, to 500 ppbv. But the intensity from the $S_2^*$ species showed a linear response to the $H_2S$ only at low flow rate under 20 sccm (mL/min) of the sample gas. Separate experiments using $SO_2$ gas as the source of sulfur demonstrated that the presence of $O_2$ in the argon plasma is essential for obtaining prominent $SO_2^*$ emission lines.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.246-250
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• 2019

Nano-multilayered $Cr_{25.2}Al_{19.5}Si_{4.7}N_{50.5}$ films were deposited on the steel substrate by cathodic arc plasma deposition. They were corroded at $900^{\circ}C$ in $Ar/1%SO_2$ gas in order to study their corrosion behavior in sulfidizing/oxidizing environments. Despite the presence of sulfur in the gaseous environment, the corrosion was governed by oxidation, leading to formation of protective oxides such as $Cr_2O_3$ and ${\alpha}-Al_2O_3$, where Si was dissolved. Iron diffused outward from the substrate to the film surface, and oxidized to $Fe_2O_3$ and $Fe_3O_4$. The films were corrosion-resistant up to 150 h owing to the formation of thin ($Cr_2O_3$ and/or ${\alpha}-Al_2O_3$)-rich oxide layers. However, they failed when corroded at $900^{\circ}C$ for 300 h, resulting in the formation of layered oxide scales due to not only outward diffusion of Cr, Al, Si, Fe and N, but also inward movement of sulfur and oxygen.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.480-490
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• 2003

Effects of plasma-nitriding on the pitting corrosion of Fe-30at%Al-5at%Cr alloy containing Ti, Hf, and Zr were investigated using potentiostat in 0.1M HCl. The specimen was casted by the vacuum arc melting. The subsequent homogenization was carried out in Ar gas atmosphere at $1000^{\circ}C$ for 7days and phase stabilizing heat treatment was carried out in Ar gas atmosphere at $500^{\circ}C$ for 5 days. The specimen was nitrided in the $N_2$, and $H_2$, (1:1) mixed gas of $10^{-4}$ torr at $480^{\circ}C$ for 10 hrs. After the corrosion tests, the surface of the tested specimens were observed by the optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). For Fe-30at%Al-5Cr alloy, the addition of Hf has equi-axied structure and addition of Zr showed dendritic structure. For Fe-30at%Al-5Cr alloy containing Ti, plasma nitriding proved beneficial to decrease the pitting corrosion attack by increasing pitting potential due to formation of TiN film. Addition of Hf and Zr resulted in a higher activation current density and also a lower pitting potential. These results indicated the role of dendritic structure in decreasing the pitting corrosion resistance of Fe-30Al-5Cr alloy. Ti addition to Fe-30Al-5Cr decreased the number and size of pits. In the case of Zr and Hf addition, the pits nucleated remarkably at dendritic branches.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1997.11a
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• pp.276-278
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• 1997

The reliable etching process is one of the essential steps in fabricating GaN based-device. High etch rate is needed to obtain a deeply etched structure and perfect anisotropic etched facet is needed to obtain lasing profile. In the research, therefore, we had proposed a planar inductively coupled plasma etcher (Planar ICP Etcher) as a high density plasma source, and studied the etching mechanism using the $CH_4/H_2$/Ar gas mixture. Dry etching characteristics such as etch rate, anisotropic etching profile and so on, for the III-V nitride layers were investigated using Planar ICP Etcher, based on the plasma characteristic as a variation of plasma process parameters.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.380-386
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• 2006

In this study, we had designed and fabricated the plasma focus device which can generate the light source for EUV(Extreme Ultra Violet) lithography. And we also have investigated the basic electrical characteristics of currents, voltages, resistance and inductance of this system. Voltage and current signals were measured by C-dot and B-dot probe, respectively. We applied various voltages of 1.5, 2, 2.5 and 3 kV to the anode electrode and observed voltages and current signals in accordance with various Ar pressures of 1 mTorr to 100 Torr in diode chamber. It is observed that the peak values of voltage and current signals were measured at 300 mTorr, where the inductance and impedance were also estimated to be 73 nH and $35 m{\Omega}$ respectively. The electron temperature has been shown to be 13000 K at the diode voltage of 2.5 kV and this gas pressure of 300 mTorr. It is also found that the ion density Ni and ionization rate 0 have been shown to be $N_i = 8.25{\times}10^{15}/cc$ and ${\delta}$= 77.8%, respectively by optical emission spectroscopy from assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium(LTE) plasma.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.148-156
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• 1993

TiN films were deposited onto high speed steel (SKH9) by plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition (PACVD) using a TiCl4/N2/H2/Ar gas mixture at around 50$0^{\circ}C$. The effects of the deposition temperature, R.F. power and TiCl4 concentration on the deposition of TiN and the microhardness of TiN film were investigated. The crystallinity and the microhardness of TiN films were improved with increase of the deposition temperature. Optimum deposition temperature in this study was 50$0^{\circ}C$, because a softening or phase transformation of the substrate occurred over 50$0^{\circ}C$. A large increase of the film growth rate with a strong(200) preferred orientation was obtained by increasing R.F. power. Much chlorine content of about 10at.% was found in the deposited films and resulted in relatively low average microhardness of about 1, 500Kgf/$\textrm{mm}^2$ compared with the theoretical value(~2, 000Kgf/$\textrm{mm}^2$).

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.60-63
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• 2011

We investigated the etching characteristics of zinc oxide (ZnO) and the effect of additive gases in a $Cl_2$-based inductively coupled plasma. The inert gases were argon, nitrogen, and helium. The maximum etch rates were 44.3, 39.9, and 37.9 nm/min for $Cl_2$(75%)/Ar(25%), $Cl_2$(50%)/$N_2$(50%), and $Cl_2$(75%)/He(25%) gas mixtures, 600 W radiofrequency power, 150 W bias power, and 2 Pa process pressure. We obtained the maximum etch rate by a combination of chemical reaction and physical bombardment. A volatile compound of Zn-Cl. achieved the chemical reaction on the surface of the ZnO thin films. The physical etching was performed by inert gas ion bombardment that broke the Zn-O bonds. The highly oriented (002) peak was determined on samples, and the (013) peak of $Zn_2SiO_4$ was observed in the ZnO thin film sample based on x-ray diffraction spectroscopy patterns. In addition, the sample of $Cl_2$/He chemistry showed a high full-width at half-maximum value. The root-mean-square roughness of ZnO thin films decreased to 1.33 nm from 5.88 nm at $Cl_2$(50%)/$N_2$(50%) plasma chemistry.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.1188-1196
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• 1994

TiN films were deposited onto high speed steel(SKH9) and silicon wafer by plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition(PACVD) using a TiCl4/N2/H2/Ar gas mixture. The effects of deposition temperature, R.F. power, and H2 concentration on the deposition of TiN were studied. The residual chlorine content and the microhardness of TiN films were also investigated. It was found that TiN films grew with a columnar structure of a strong (200) preferred orientation regardless of the substrate type and the deposition variables. The TiN films consisted of columnar-grains of about 50 to 100 nm in diameter. The columnar grains themselves contained much finer fibrous grains. As deposition temperature increased, the residual chlorine content decreased sharply. R. F. powder enhanced the deposition rate largely. Increasing of H2 concentration had little effect on the residual chlorine.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.167-167
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• 2011

Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) is one of the prospective semiconductor memories for next generation. It has the excellent features including nonvolatility, fast access time, unlimited read/write endurance, low operating voltage, and high storage density. MRAM consists of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). The MTJ stack is composed of various magnetic materials, metals, and a tunneling barrier layer. For the successful realization of high density MRAM, the etching process of magnetic materials should be developed. Among various magnetic materials, FePt has been used for pinned layer of MTJ stack. The previous etch study of FePt magnetic thin films was carried out using $CH_4/O_2/NH_3$. It reported only the etch characteristics with respect to the variation of RF bias powers. In this study, the etch characteristics of FePt thin films have been investigated using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etcher in various etch chemistries containing $CH_4$/Ar and $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mixes. TiN thin film was employed as a hard mask. FePt thin films are etched by varying the gas concentration. The etch characteristics have been investigated in terms of etch rate, etch selectivity and etch profile. Furthermore, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is applied to elucidate the etch mechanism of FePt thin films in $CH_4$/Ar and $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ chemistries.