• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.65-71
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• 1999

The effects of mask materials and etching solutions on the dimensional accuracy of V-groove were studied for the alignment between optoelectronic devices and optical fibers in optical packaging. PECVD nitride, LPCVD nitride, or thermal oxide($SiO_2$) was used as a mask material. The anisotropic etching solution was KOH(40wt%) or the mixture of KOH and IPA. LPCVB nitride has the best etching selectivity and thermal oxide was etched most rapidly in KOH(40wt%) at $85^{\circ}C$ among the mask materials studied here. The V-groove size enlarged than the designed value. This phenomenon was due to the undercutting benearth the mask layer from the etching toward Si (111) plane. The etch rate of (111) plane wart 0.034 - 0.037 $\mu\textrm{m}$/min in KOH(40wt%). This rate was almost same regardless of mask materials. When IPA added to KOH(40wt%), the etch rate of (100) plane and (111) plane decreased, but etching ratio of (100) to (111) plane increased. Consequently, the undercutting phenomenon due to etching toward (111) plane decreased and the size of V-groove could be controlled more accurately.

• Proceedings of the KAIS Fall Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.185-193
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• 2000

이방성 습식 식각을 이용하여 멤브레인을 제작하기 위하여 KOH-IPA의 식각액을 사용하여 단결정 실리콘 기판을 이방성으로 식각을 하고, 각 용액에 대한 식각 특성을 관찰하였다. 식각률은 식각액의 온도와 농도에 의존하며, 패턴 형성 방향과 식각액의 농도에 따라 식각 형태가 다르게 나타났다. 패턴은 Primary Flat에 45°로 기울여 형성되었으며 20wt·% KOH 80℃ 이상에서는 U-groove, 그 이하의 온도와 농도에서는 V-groove 식각 형태를 관찰할 수 있었다. 각 면에 대한 식각률 차이에 의해서 생기는 Hillock은 온도와 농도가 높아짐에 따라 줄어들었고, 재식각을 퉁하여 현저하게 줄어듦을 알 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.11 no.4 s.33
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• pp.81-86
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• 2004

A new method to improve the wet etching characteristics is described. The anisotropic wet-etching of (100) Si with megasonic wave has been studied in KOH solution. Etching characteristics of p-type (100) 6 inch Si have been explored with and without megasonic irradiation. It has been observed that megasonic irradiation improves the characteristics of wet etching such as an etch uniformity and surface roughness. The etching uniformity on the whole wafer with and without megasonic irradiation were less than ${\pm}1\%$ and more than $20\%$, respectively. The initial root-mean-square roughness($R_{rms}$) of single crystal silicon is 0.23 nm. It has been reported that the roughnesses with magnetic stirring and ultrasonic agitation were 566 nm and 66 nm, respectively. Comparing with the results, etching with megasonic irradiation achieved the Rrms of 1.7 nm on the surface after the $37{\mu}m$ of etching depth. Wet etching of silicon with megasonic irradiation can maintain nearly the original surface roughness after etching process. The results have verified that the megasonic irradiation is an effective way to improve the etching characteristics such as etch uniformity and surface roughness.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.31-35
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• 2011

For high efficiency of Si-cells, Si wafers were textured by the KOH and NaOH etching solution to decreas the reflectance at surfaces of the cells. The textured surfaces were shown various types such as isotropic and anisotropic depending on the etching solution. The reflectance at sample of an anisotropic form with pyramid type was lower than that of isotropic form. The surface with isotropic form of general tiny circles on the surface increased the efficiency, however, the reflectance of it was increased. The efficiency was increased on surface with low roughness.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.22 no.3_1spc
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• pp.544-550
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• 2013

A grooved surface with anisotropic wettability was fabricated on a silicon substrate using photolithography, reactive ion etching, and a KOH etching process. The contact angles (CAs) of water droplets were measured and compared with the theoretical values in the Cassie state and Wenzel state. The experimental results showed that the contact area between a water droplet and a solid surface was important to determine the wettability of the water. The specimens with native oxide layers presented CAs ranging from $71.6^{\circ}$ to $86.4^{\circ}$. The droplets on the specimens with a native oxide layer could be in the Cassie state because they had relatively smooth surfaces. However, the CAs of the specimens with thick oxide layers ranged from $33.4^{\circ}$ to $59.1^{\circ}$. This indicated that the surface roughness for a specimen with a relatively thick oxide layer was higher, and the water droplet was in the Wenzel state. From the CA measurement results, it was observed that the wetting on the grooved surface was anisotropic for all of the specimens.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.99-101
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• 2000

The fabrication of the submicron size hole has been interesting due to the potential application of the near field optical sensor or liquid metal ion source. The 2 micron size dot array was photolithographically patterned. After formation of the V-groove shape by anisotropic KOH etching, dry oxidation at $1000^{\circ}C$ for 600 minutes was followed. In this procedure, the orientation dependent oxide growth was performed to have an etch-mask for dry etching. The reactive ion etching by the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system was performed in order to etch ~90 nm $SiO_2$ layer at the bottom of the V-groove and to etch the Si at the bottom. The negative ion energy would enhance the anisotropic etching by the $Cl_2$ gas. After etching, the remaining thickness of the oxide on the Si(111) surface was measured to be ~130 nm by scanning electron microscopy. The etched Si aperture can be used for NSOM sensor.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.51-58
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• 2002

In this paper, the characteristics of silicon wafer surface which is textured by KOH anisotropic etching method and mechanical polishing are investigated from the viewpoint of stiction and friction. It was found that the characteristics of stiction and friction of each textured surface are dependent on the contact area characterized by surface parameters such as bearing length ratio and peak count. To find the mechanism of the variation of stiction and friction in textured surface, OTS SAM coated wafer was used. In this case, the variation of stiction and friction was diminished, Therefore, it is concluded that the reason of variation of stiction and friction on textured surface is mainly caused by capillary which in turn is affected by the surface topography

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.24-31
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• 2004

Masking effect of the nanoscratched silicon (100) surface was studied and applied to a maskless nanofabrication technique. First, the surface of the silicon (100) was machined by ductile-regime nanomachining process using the scratch option of the Nanoindenter${ \circledR}$ XP. To clarify the possibility of the nanoscratched silicon surfaces for the application to wet etching mask, the etching characteristic with a KOH solution was evaluated at room temperature. After the etching process, the convex nanostructures were made due to the masking effect of the mechanically affected layer. Moreover, the height and the width of convex structures were controlled with varying normal loads during nanoscratch.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 1999.07a
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• pp.79-79
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• 1999

The varous techniques for fabrication of si or metal tip as a field emission electron source have been reported due to great potential capabilities of flat panel display application. In this report, 240nm thermal oxide was initially grown at the p-type (100) (5-25 ohm-cm) 4 inch Si wafer and 310nm Si3N4 thin layer was deposited using low pressure chemical vapor deposition technique(LPCVD). The 2 micron size dot array was photolithographically patterned. The KOH anisotropic etching of the silicon substrate was utilized to provide V-groove formation. After formation of the V-groove shape, dry oxidation at 100$0^{\circ}C$ for 600 minutes was followed. In this procedure, the orientation dependent oxide growth was performed to have a etch-mask for dry etching. The thicknesses of the grown oxides on the (111) surface and on the (100) etch stop surface were found to be ~330nm and ~90nm, respectively. The reactive ion etching by 100 watt, 9 mtorr, 40 sccm Cl2 feed gas using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system was performed in order to etch ~90nm SiO layer on the bottom of the etch stop and to etch the Si layer on the bottom. The 300 watt RF power was connected to the substrate in order to supply ~(-500)eV. The negative ion energy would enhance the directional anisotropic etching of the Cl2 RIE. After etching, remaining thickness of the oxide on the (111) was measured to be ~130nm by scanning electron microscopy.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.116-122
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• 2013

For fabricating silicon solar cells with high conversion efficiency, texturing is one of the most effective techniques to increase short circuit current by enhancing light trapping. In this study, four different types of textures, large V-groove, large U-groove, small V-groove, and small U-groove, were prepared by a wet etching process. Silicon substrates with V-grooves were fabricated by an anisotropic etching process using a KOH solution mixed with isopropyl alcohol (IPA), and the size of the V-grooves was controlled by varying the concentration of IPA. The isotropic etching process following anisotropic etching resulted in U-grooves and the isotropic etching time was determined to obtain U-grooves with an opening angle of approximately $60^{\circ}$. The results indicated that U-grooves had a larger diffuse reflectance than V-grooves and the reflectances of small grooves was slightly higher than those of large grooves depending on the size of the grooves. Then amorphous Si:H thin film solar cells were fabricated on textured substrates to investigate the light trapping effect of textures with different shapes and sizes. Among the textures fabricated in this work, the solar cells on the substrate with small U-grooves had the largest short circuit current, 19.20 mA/$cm^2$. External quantum efficiency data also demonstrated that the small, U-shape textures are more effective for light trapping than large, V-shape textures.