• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.125-139
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• 2024

As the limits of semiconductor integration are approached, the challenges in semiconductor processes have intensified. And, for the production of semiconductors with dimensions under a few nanometers and to resolve the issues related to nanoscale device fabrication, research on atomic layer etching (ALE) technology has been conducted. The investigation related to ALE encompasses not only silicon and dielectric materials but also metallic materials. Particularly, there is an increasing need for ALE in next-generation metal materials that could replace copper in interconnect materials. This brief review will summarize the concept and methods of ALE and describe recent studies on potential next-generation metal replacements for copper, along with their ALE processes.

• Composites Research
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.387-393
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• 2021

This paper investigated the electrical properties of multiwall carbon nanotube reinforced polydimethylsiloxane (CNT-PDMS) strain sensors with copper electrodes on the wet-etched surface. MWCNT-PDMS strain sensors were fabricated according to the wt% of MWCNT. Surfaces on the electrode area were wet-etched with various etching duration and silver epoxy adhesives were spread on the wet-etched surface. Finally, we attached the copper electrodes to the MWCNT-PMDS strain sensors. We checked the electric conductivities by the two-probe method and sensing characteristics under the cyclic loading. We observed the electric conductivity of MWCNT-PDMS strain sensors increased sharply and the scattering of the measured data decreased when the surface of the electrode area was wet-etched. Initial resistances of MWCNT-PDMS strain sensors were inversely proportion to wt% of MWCNT and the etching duration. However, the resistance changing rates under 30% strain increased as wt% of MWCNT and the etching duration increased. Decreasing rate of the electric resistance change after 100 repetitions was smaller when wt% of MWCNT was larger and the etching duration was short. This was due to the low initial resistance of the MWCNT-PMDS strain sensors by the wet-etching.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.548-554
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• 2016

In this study, semi-aqueous solutions containing carboxylic acids such as oxalic acid (OA), lactic acid (LA) and citric acid (CA) were formulated for the removal of copper etching residues produced at the interconnection process, and their characteristics were analyzed. Carboxylic acids in the solutions were apt to form various copper complexes according to the value of pH. Semi-aqueous solution containing 10 wt% CA showed the lowest etching rate of copper in the range from pH2 to pH7 and the highest selectivity in the range of pH 2 to pH 4. However, the cleaning solution containing 10 wt% LA revealed the superior selectivity at the range from pH 5 to pH 7. Appropriate selection of carboxylic acid should be required to improve the performance of cleaning solution. In the case of CA, the etching selectivity of copper oxide complex to copper was increased with the concentration of CA in the solution, when the solutions contain over 5 wt% CA, the copper interconnection layer has a metallic copper surface more than 88% in the area. The result shows that CA contained semi-aqueous solution has a relatively good cleaning ability.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.117-117
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• 1998

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.302-310
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• 2001

Cu/PET film composites were prepared by electroless copper plating method. In order to improve adhesion between electroless Cu plated layer and polyester (PET) film, the effect of pretreatment conditions such as etching method and mixed catalyst composition, and accelerator was investigated. Compared to NaOH etching medium, PET film was more finely etched by HCl solution, resulting in an improvement in adhesion between Cu layer and PET film. However, there were no significant differences in electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness as a function of etching medium. The surface morphology of Cu plated PET film revealed that Pd/Sn colloidal particles became more evenly distributed in the smaller size by increasing the molar ratio of PdCl$_2$ : SnCl$_2$ from 1 : 4 to 1 : 16. With increasing the molar ratio of mixed catalyst, the adhesion and the shielding effectiveness of Cu plated PET film were increased. Furthermore, HCl was turned out to be a better accelerator than NaOH in order to enhance the activity of the mixed PdCl$_2$/SnCl$_2$ catalyst, which facilitated the formation of more uniform copper deposit on the PET film.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.249-255
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• 2021

In this work, we proposed a facile method to fabricate the three-dimensional porous copper current collector (3D Cu CC) for a Si-dominant anode in a Li-ion battery (LiB). The 3D Cu CC was prepared by combining chemical etching and thermal reduction from a planar copper foil. It had a porous layer employing micro-sized Cu balls with a large surface area. In particular, it had strengthened attachment of Si-dominant active material on the CC compared to a planar 2D copper foil. Moreover, the increased contact area between a Si-dominant active material and the 3D Cu could minimize contact loss of active materials from a CC. As a result of a battery test, Si-dominant active materials on 3D Cu showed higher cyclic performance and rate-capability than those on a conventional planar copper foil. Specifically, the Si electrode employing 3D Cu exhibited an areal capacity of 0.9 mAh cm^-2 at the 300^th cycles (@ 1.0 mA cm^-2), which was 5.6 times higher than that on the 2D copper foil (0.16 mAh cm^-2).

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.632-638
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• 2021

With the copper interconnection in the semiconductor process, complex residues including copper oxide, fluoride, and polymeric fluorocarbon are formed by plasma etching. In this study, a cleaning solution was prepared with a component having an amine group (-NH₂) and a carboxyl group (-COOH), and the characteristics of removing post-etch residues in the copper wiring process were analyzed. In the cleaning solution containing an amine group, the length of the component substituted with nitrogen and the length of the carbon chain influenced the cleaning effect, and the etching rate of copper oxide increased as the pH of the cleaning solution increased. The activity of the amine group is in the basic region, and the activity of the carboxyl group is in the acidic region, and the cleaning process proceeds through complex formation with copper or copper oxide in each region.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.13-19
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• 2014

Phosphoric acid was used as etching agent instead of conventional peroxide - based chemicals for forming pattern of ultra definition display. Etchant was synthesized by mixing etching agent, oxidation agent, buffer solution, and additive into solvent, deionized water. Thicknesses of copper, main metal of ultra definition display, for etching, were 10,000 and $30,000{{\AA}}$. Etch stop of good low skew for proper pattern formation has been occurred at the content ratio of phosphoric acid 60 - 64%, nitric acid 4 - 5%, additive(potassium acetate) 1 - 3%. Buffer solution(acetic acid) decreased the metal contact angle $63.07^{\circ}$ to $42.49^{\circ}$ for benefiting pattern formation. Content variations on four components (phosphoric acid, nitric acid, acetic acid, potassium acetic acid) of the etchant with storage time were within 3 wt% after 24 hrs of etching work.

• Clean Technology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 1996

The solvent extraction method was applied on a spent solution containing copper, which was produced in a printed circuit board process, to recover copper and to reuse the etching solution. Lix 64 N ($\alpha$-Hydroxyoxime + $\beta$-Hydroxybenzophenone Oxime) was used as a solvent. The acidic spent copper solution was mixed with and alkaline copper solution to pH=2. The solvent including 30 volume% of Lix 64 N extracted 17.1gr/l of copper from the mixed spent copper solution. In the continuous bench scale experiment, 4 stages for extraction, 2 stages for stripping and 4 stages for washing were used. Recovered copper was recycled as copper sulfate and the raffinate was reused as copper etchant. The percentage of copper recovery and the purity of copper sulfate were higher than 99.9%, respectively.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1995.11a
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• pp.338-341
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• 1995

The surface properties after plasma etching of Al(Si, Cu) solutions using the chemistries of chlorinated and fluorinated gases with varying the etching time have been investigated using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. Impurities of C, Cl, F and O etc are observed on the etched Al(Si, Cu) films. After 95% etching, aluminum and silicon show metallic states and oxized (partially chlorinated) states, copper shows Cu metallic states and Cu-Clx(x$CuCl_x$ (x$CuCl_x$ (1