• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.281-287
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• 2005

Titanium aluminium nitride((TiAl)N) film is anticipated as an advanced coating film with wear resistance used for drills, bites etc. and with corrosion resistance at a high temperature. In this study, (TiAl)N thin films were deposited both at room temperature and at elevated substrate temperatures of 573 to 773 K by using a two-facing-targets type DC sputtering system in a mixture Ar and $N_2$ gases. Atomic compositions of the binary Ti-Al alloy target is Al-rich (25Ti-75Al (atm%)). Process parameters such as precursor volume %, substrate temperature and Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio were optimized. The crystallization processes and phase transformations of (TiAl)N thin films were investigated by X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy. The microhardness of (TiAl)N thin films were measured by a dynamic hardness tester. The films obtained with Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio of 1:3 and at 673 K substrate temperature showed the highest microhardness of $H_v$ 810. The crystallized and phase transformations of (TiAl)N thin films were $Ti_2AlN+AlN{\rightarrow}TiN+AlN$ for Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio of 1:3, $Ti_2AlN+AlN{\rightarrow}TiN+AlN{\rightarrow}Ti_2AlN+TiN+AlN$ for Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio of 1:1 and $TiN+AlN{\rightarrow}Ti_2AlN+TiN+AlN{\rightarrow}Ti_2AlN+AlN{\rightarrow}Ti_2AlN+TiN+AlN$ for Ar/$N_2$ gas ratio of 3:1. The above results are discussed in terms of crystallized phases and microhardness.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.145-149
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• 2016

The effect of process parameters such as plasma composition, ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) source power and rf chuck power on the etch characteristics of GaN epitaxy layer was studied. $Cl_2/Ar$ ICP discharges showed higher etch rates than $SF_6/Ar$ discharges because of the higher volatility of $GaCl_x$ etch products than $GaF_x$ compounds. As the Ar ratio increases in the $Cl_2/Ar$ ICP discharges, the etch anisotropy was enhanced due to the improved physical component of the etching. For both plasma chemistries, the GaN etch rate increased continuously as both the ICP source power and rf chuck power increased, and a maximum etch rate of 251.9 nm/min was obtained at $13Cl_2/2Ar$, 750W ICP power, 400W rf chuck power and 10 mTorr condition.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.223-224
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• 2009

본 연구에서는 $Cl_2$/Ar 기반의 플라즈마 식각에 $N_2$가스를 첨가하여 ZnO 박막을 식각 하였을 때 관찰된 ZnO 박막의 식각 특성에 관하여 연구 하였다. ZnO 박막 식각 실험은 RF 800 W, bias power 400 W, 공정 압력 15 mTorr를 기준으로 하였으며 가스 혼합 비율로는 최적의 식각률을 보여주는 $Cl_2$/Ar=8:2 비율에서 실행하였다. 연구의 목적인 첨가 가스 $N_2$를 $Cl_2$ (80%)/Ar (20)%에 5 sccm 씩 첨가하여 20 sccm 까지 증가 시켜 실험 하였다. $N_2$ 가스가 15 sccm 첨가되었을 때 식각률 95.9 nm/min로 기존 $Cl_2$/Ar 기반의 플라즈마 식각보다 높은 식각률을 보여 주었으며 $N_2$ 가스 흐름 조절 외에도 공정 압력, RF power, bias power를 변경하며 실험하였다. 식각된 ZnO 박막의 표면은 최대 식각률을 보이는 공정 조건을 찾기 위해 surface profiler ($\alpha$-step)을 이용하여 식각률을 측정하였으며 ZnO 박막 표면의 화학적인 변화를 조사하기 위해 x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)를 사용하였다. XPS 분석 결과 Zn $2p_{3/2}$ peak 가낮은 binding energy 쪽으로 이동한 것을 관찰 할 수 있었다. 또한 O 1s 의 스펙트럼을 분석한 결과 N-O bond와 O-H bond가 존재함이 밝혀졌다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 1999.07a
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• pp.249-249
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• 1999

GaN과 같은 III-nitride 반도체 관한 식각 기술의 연구는 blue-emitting laser diode(LD)를 위한 경면(mirror facet)의 형성뿐만아니라 새로운 display 용도의 light emitting diodes (LED), 고온에서 작동되는 광전소자 제조 등에도 그 중요성이 증대되고 있다. 최근에는 III-nitride 물질의 높은 식각속도와 미려하고 수직한 식각형상을 이루기 위하여 ECR(Electron Cyclotron Resonance)이나 ICP(Inductively Coupled Plasma)와 같은 고밀도 플라즈마 식각과 CAIBE(Chemically assisted ion beam etching)를 이용한 연구가 진행되고 있다. 현재 제조되어 지고 있는 LED 및 LD와 같은 광소자의 구조의 대부분은 p-GaN/AlGaN/InGaN(Q.W)/AlGaN/n-GaN 와 같은 여러 층의 형태로 이루어져 있다. 이중 InGaN는 광소자나 전자소자의 특성에 영향을 주는 가장 중요한 부분으로써 현재까지 보고된 식각연구는 undoped GaN에 대부분 집중되고 있고 이에 비해 소자 특성에 핵심을 이루는 InGaN의 식각특성에 관한 연구는 미흡한 상황이다. 본 연구에서는 고밀도 플라즈마원인 ICP 장비를 이용하여 InGaN를 식각하였고, 식각에는 Cl2/CH4, Cl2/Ar 플라즈마를 사용하였다. InGaN의 식각특성에 영향을 미치는 플라즈마의 특성을 관찰하기 위하여 quadrupole mass spectrometry(QMS)와 optical emission spectroscopy(PES)를 사용하였다. 기판 온도는 5$0^{\circ}C$, 공정 압력은 5,Torr에서 30mTorr로 변화시켰고 inductive power는 200~800watt, bias voltage는 0~-200voltage로 변화시켰으며 식각마스크로는 SiO2를 patterning 하여 사용하였다. n-GaN, p-GaN 층 이외에 광소자 제조시 필수적인 InGaN 층을 100% Cl2로 식각한 경우에 InGaN의 식각속도가 GaN에 비해 매우 낮은 식각속도를 보였다. Cl2 gas에 소량의 CH4나 Ar gas를 첨가하는 경우와 공정압력을 감소시키는 경우 식각속도는 증가하였고, Cl2/10%Ar 플라즈마에서 공정 압력을 감소시키는 경우 식각속도는 증가하였고, Cl2/10%CHF3 와 Cl2/10%Ar 플라즈마에서 공정압력을 15mTorr로 감소시키는 경우 InGaN과 GaNrks의 선택적인 식각이 가능하였다. InGaN의 식각속도는 Cl2/Ar 플라즈마의 이온에 의한 Cl2/CHF3(CH4) 플라즈마에서의 CHx radical 형성에 의하여 증가하는 것으로 사료되어 진다.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.853-856
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• 2005

Inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack, which is one of the key elements in magnetic random access memory, was studied. The MTJ stacks were patterned in nanometer size by electron(e)-beam lithography, and TiN thin films were employed as a hard mask. The etch process of TiN hard mask was examined using Ar, $Cl_2/Ar$, and $SF_6/Ar$. The TiN hard mask patterned by e-beam lithography was first etched and then the etching of MTJ stack was performed. The MTJ stacks were etched using Ar, $Cl_2/Ar$, and $BCl_3/Ar$ gases by varying gas concentration and pressure.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.189-193
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• 2001

We have characterized physical and electrical properties of W-TiN stacked gate electrode structure with TiN as a diffusion barrier of fluorine. As the $N_2/Ar$ gas ratio increased during sputter deposition, TiN thin films became N-rich, and the resistivity of the films increased. However, the resistivity of W-TiN stacked gate reduced as a result of the crystallization of tungsten with the increase of $N_2/Ar$ gas ratio. On the other hand, tungsten in W-TiN stacked gate structure have the (100)-oriented crystalline structure although TiN films were subjected to annealing at high temperature (600~$800^{\circ}C$). Leakage currents of W-TiN gate MOS capacitors were less than $10^{-7}\textrm{/Acm}^2$ and also were lowered by the order of 2 compared with those of pure W gate electrode.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.202-206
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• 2005

Nitriding treatments were conducted on tool steel (SKD 61) at a temperature of $500^{\circ}C$ for 5 hr using high vacuum direct current (DC) plasma, with ammonia and argon as source gases. The structural and compositional changes produced in the nitrided layers by applying different ratios of Ar to $NH_{3}\;(n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}) were investigated using glancing x-ray diffraction (GXRD), optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), micro-Vickers hardness testing, and pin-on-disc type tribometer. Nitriding case depths of around of $50{\mu}m$ were produced, varying slightly with different ratios of $n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}. It was found that the specimen surface hardness was 1150 Hv with $n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}=1, increasing to a maximum value of 1500 Hv with $n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}=5. With a further increase in ratio to $n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}=10, the surface hardness of the specimen reduced slightly to a value of 1370 Hv. These phenomena were caused by changes of the crystallographic structure of the nitride layers, i.e the $\gamma'-Fe_{4}N$ phase only was observed in the sample treated with $n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}$=1, and the intensity of the $\gamma'-Fe_{4}N$ phase were reduced but new phase of $\varepsilon'-Fe_{3}N$, which was known as a high hardness, with increasing $n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}. Also, the relative weight loss of counterface of the pin-on-disc with unnitrided steel was 0.2. And that of nitrided steel at a gas mixture ($n_{Ar}/n_{NH3}) of 1, 5, 7, and 10 was 0.4, 0.7, 0.6, and 0.5 mg, respectively. This means that the wear resistance of the nitrided samples could be increased by a factor of 2 at least than that of unnitrided steel.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.2E
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• pp.4-7
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• 1996

In this paper, we propose a formula to compute the exact autocorrelations of the autoregressive (AR) process. For an arbitrary value of N, we first review the Yule-Walker equation and some basic properties of the AR model. We then modify the Yule-Walker equation to construct a new system of N+1 linear equations that can be used to solve for the N+1 autocorrelation coefficients for lags 0, 1, …, N, provided that the AR parameters of order N and the power of the white noise of the AR process are given.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.51-57
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• 2019

To protect the Cu surface from oxidation in air, a two-step plasma process using Ar and $N_2$ gases was studied to form a copper nitride passivation as an anti-oxidant layer. The Ar plasma removes contaminants on the Cu surface and it activates the surface to facilitate the reaction of copper and nitrogen atoms in the next $N_2$ plasma process. This study investigated the effect of Ar plasma on the formation of copper nitride passivation on Cu surface during the two-step plasma process through the full factorial design of experiment (DOE) method. According to XPS analysis, when using low RF power and pressure in the Ar plasma process, the peak area of copper oxides decreased while the peak area of copper nitrides increased. The main effect of copper nitride formation in Ar plasma process was RF power, and there was little interaction between plasma process parameters.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.809-816
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• 1995

Ti1-xAlxN films were successfully deposited on high speed steel and silicon wafer by plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition using a TiCl4/AlCl3/N2/Ar/H2 gas mixture. Plasma process enabled N2 gas to nitride AlCl3, which is not possible in sense of thermodynamics. XPS analyses revealed that the deposited layer contained Al-N bond as well as Ti-N bond. Ti1-xAlxN films were polycrystalline and had single phase, B1-NaCl structure of TiN. Interplanar distance, d200, of (200) crystal plane of Ti1-xAlxN was, however, decreased with Al content, x. Al incorporation into TiN caused the grain size to be finer and changed strong (200) preferred orientation of TiN to random oriented microstructure. Those microstructural changes with Al addition resulted in the increase of micro-hardness of Ti1-xAlxN film up to 2800Kg/$\textrm{mm}^2$ compared with 1400Kg/$\textrm{mm}^2$ of TiN.