• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2017

In this paper, a fabrication method of low-loss tapered optical fibers coupler using hydrofluoric acid with surface tension driven is proposed. The proposed fabrication method is very simple compared to flame-based method, and shows low excess insertion losses compared to polishing method. The adiabatic-tapered structure along the coupling region of the coupler shows wavelength independent characteristic over the C-band in optical communication system, and will enable promising applications.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.243-243
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• 2010

This paper two different etching, HF : HNO3 :DI and RIE were used for etching in multi-crystalline Silicon(Mc-Si) solar cell fabrication. The wafers etched in RIE texture showed low reflectance compared to the wafers etched in Acid soultion after SiNx deposition. In light current-voltage results, the cells etched in RIE texture exhibited higher short circuit current and open circuit voltage than those of the cells etched in acid solution. We have obtained 15.1% conversion efficiency in large area($156cm^2$) Multi-Si solar cells etched in RIE texture.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.29-35
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• 2014

In this study general solar cell production process was complemented, with research on improvement of solar cell efficiency through surface structure and thermal annealing process. Firstly, to form the pyramid structure, the saw damage removal (SDR) processed surface was undergone texturing process with reactive ion etching (RIE). Then, for the formation of smooth pyramid structure to facilitate uniform doping and electrode formation, the surface was etched with HND(HF : HNO3 : D.I. water=5 : 100 : 100) solution. Notably, due to uniform doping the leakage current decreased greatly. Also, for the enhancement and maintenance of minority carrier lifetime, antireflection coating thermal annealing was done. To maintain this increased lifetime, front electrode was formed through Au plating process without high temperature firing process. Through these changes in two processes, the leakage current effect could be decreased and furthermore, the conversion efficiency could be increased. Therefore, compared to the general solar cell with a conversion efficiency of 15.89%, production of high efficiency solar cell with a conversion efficiency of 17.24% was made possible.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.247-248
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• 2008

The etching characteristics of Titanium Nitride (TiN) and etch selectivity of TiN to $SiO_2$ and $HfO_2$ in $CH_4$/Ar plasma were investigated. It was found that TiN etch rate shows a non-monotonic behavior with increasing both Ar fraction in $CH_4$ plasma, RF power, and gas pressure. The maximum TiN etch rate of nm/min was obtained for $CH_4$ (80%)/Ar(20%) gas mixture. The plasmas were characterized using optical emission spectroscopy (OES) analysis measurements. From these data, the suggestions on the TiN etch characteristics were made.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.47 no.11
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• pp.748-753
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• 2009

The surface morphology and the surface roughness of n-type SiC induced by wet-treatment using 45% KOH and buffered oxide etchant (BOE-1HF : $6H_2O$) were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). While Si-face of SiC could be etched by alkali solutions such as KOH, acidic solutions such as BOE were hardly able to etch SiC. When the rough SiC samples were used, the surface roughness of etched sample was decreased after wet-treatment regardless of etchant, due to the planarization the of surface by widening of scratches formed by mechanical polishing. It was observed that the initial etching was affected by the energetically unstable sites, such as dangling bond and steps. However, when a relatively smooth sample was used, the surface roughness was rapidly increased after treatment at $180^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr and at room temperature for 4 hr by using KOH solution, resulting from the nano-sized structures such as pores and bumps. This indicates that porous SiC surface can be achieved by using purely chemical treatment.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.21-29
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• 1996

A piezoresistive silicon acceleration sensor with 8 beams, utilized by an unique silicon micromachining technique using porous silicon etching method which was fabricated on the selectively diffused (111)-oriented $n/n^{+}/n$ silicon subtrates. The width, length, and thickness of the beam was $100\;{\mu}m$, $500\;{\mu}m$, and $7\;{\mu}m$, respectively, and the diameter of the mass paddle (the region suspended by the eight beams) was 1.4 mm. The seismic mass on the mass paddle was formed about 2 mg so as to measure accelerations of the range of 50g for automotive applications. For the formation of the mass, the solder mass was loaded on the mass paddle by dispensing Pb/Sn/Ag solder paste. After the solder paste is deposited, Heat treatment was carried out on the 3-zone reflow equipment. The decay time of the output signal to impulse excitation of the fabricated sensor was observed for approximately 30 ms. The sensitivity measured through summing circuit was 2.9 mV/g and the nonlinearity of the sensor was less than 2% of the full scale output. The output deviation of each bridge was ${\pm}4%$. The cross-axis sensitivity was within 4% and the resonant frequency was found to be 2.15 KHz from the FEM simulation results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.104-104
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• 2009

Critical dimensions has rapidly shrunk to increase the degree of integration and to reduce the power consumption. However, it is accompanied with several problems like direct tunneling through the gate insulator layer and the low conductivity characteristic of poly-silicon. To cover these faults, the study of new materials is urgently needed. Recently, high dielectric materials like $Al_2O_3$, $ZrO_2$ and $HfO_2$ are being studied for equivalent oxide thickness (EOT). However, poly-silicon gate is not compatible with high-k materials for gate-insulator. To integrate high-k gate dielectric materials in nano-scale devices, metal gate electrodes are expected to be used in the future. Currently, metal gate electrode materials like TiN, TaN, and WN are being widely studied for next-generation nano-scale devices. The TaN gate electrode for metal/high-k gate stack is compatible with high-k materials. According to this trend, the study about dry etching technology of the TaN film is needed. In this study, we investigated the etch mechanism of the TaN thin film in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system with $O_2/BCl_3/Ar$ gas chemistry. The etch rates and selectivities of TaN thin films were investigated in terms of the gas mixing ratio, the RF power, the DC-bias voltage, and the process pressure. The characteristics of the plasma were estimated using optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The surface reactions after etching were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and auger electron spectroscopy (AES).

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.168-168
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• 2008

Dimension of a transistor has rapidly shrunk to increase the speed of device and to reduce the power consumption. However, it is accompanied with several problems like direct tunneling through the gate dioxide layer and low conductivity characteristic of poly-Si gate in nano-region. To cover these faults, study of new materials is urgently needed. Recently, high dielectric materials like $Al_2O_3$, $ZrO_2$, and $HfO_2$ are being studied for equivalent oxide thickness (EOT). However, poly-Si gate is not compatible with high-k materials for gate-insulator. Poly Si gate with high-k material has some problems such as gate depletion and dopant penetration problems. Therefore, new gate structure or materials that are compatible with high-k materials are also needed. TiN for metal/high-k gate stack is conductive enough to allow a good electrical connection and compatible with high-k materials. According to this trend, the study on dry etching of TiN for metal/high-k gate stack is needed. In this study, the investigations of the TiN etching characteristics were carried out using the inductively coupled $BCl_3$-based plasma system and adding $Cl_2$ gas. Dry etching of the TiN was studied by varying the etching parameters including $BCl_3$/Ar gas mixing ratio, RF power, DC-bias voltage to substrate, and $Cl_2$ gas addition. The plasmas were characterized by optical emission spectroscopy analysis. Scanning electron microscopy was used to investigate the etching profile.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.501-506
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• 2017

Surface morphology and optical properties such as transmittance and haze effect of glass etched by physical and chemical etching processes were investigated. The physical etching process was carried out by pen type sandblasting process with $15{\sim}20{\mu}m$ dia. of $Al_2O_3$ media; the chemical etching process was conducted using HF-based mixed etchant. Sandblasting was performed in terms of variables such as the distance of 8 cm between the gun nozzle and the glass substrate, the fixed air pressure of 0.5bar, and the constant speed control of the specimen stage. The chemical etching process was conducted with mixed etching solution prepared by combination of BHF (Buffered Hydrofluoric Acid), HCl, and distilled water. The morphology of the glass surface after sandblasting process displayed sharp collision vestiges with nonuniform shapes that could initiate fractures. The haze values of the sandblasted glass were quantitatively acceptable. However, based on visual observation, the desirable Anti-Glare effect was not achieved. On the other hand, irregularly shaped and sharp vestiges transformed into enlarged and smooth micro-spherical craters with the subsequent chemical etching process. The curvature of the spherical crater increased distinctly by 60 minutes and decreased gradually with increasing etching time. Further, the spherical craters with reduced curvature were uniformly distributed over the etched glass surface. The haze value increased sharply up to 55 % and the transmittance decreased by 90 % at 60 minutes of etching time. The ideal haze value range of 3~7 % and transmittance value range of above 90 % were achieved in the period of 240 to 720 minutes of etching time for the selected concentration of the chemical etchant.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2018

POU (point of use) scrubbers were applied for the treatment of waste gases including PFCs (perfluorocompounds) exhausted from the CVD (chemical vapor deposition), etching, and cleaning processes of semiconductor and display manufacturing plant. The GWP (global warming potential) and atmosphere lifetime of PFCs are known to be a few thousands higher than that of $CO_2$, and extremely high temperature more than 3,000 K is required to thermally decompose PFCs. Therefore, POU gas scrubbers based on the thermal plasma technology were developed for the effective control of PFCs and industrial application of the technology. The thermal plasma technology encompasses the generation of powerful plasma via the optimization of the plasma torch, a highly stable power supply, and the matching technique between two components. In addition, the effective mixture of the high temperature plasma and waste gases was also necessary for the highly efficient abatement of PFCs. The purpose of this paper was to provide not only a useful technical information of the post-treatment process for the waste gas scrubbing but also a short perspective on R&D of POU plasma gas scrubbers.