• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.52-58
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• 2006

Single-electron transistor (SET)-based logic cells and SET/FET hybrid integrated circuits have been fabricated on SOI chips. The input-output voltage transfer characteristic of the SET-based complementary logic cell shows an inverting behavior where the output voltage gain is estimated to be about 1.2 at 4.2K. The SET/FET output driver, consisting of one SET and three FETs, yields a high voltage gain of 13 and power amplification with a wide-range output window for driving next circuit. Finally, the SET/FET literal gate for a multi-valued logic cell, comprising of an SET, an FET and a constant-current load, displays a periodic voltage output of high/low level multiple switching with a swing as high as 200mV. The multiple switching functionality of all the fabricated logic circuits could be enhanced by utilizing a side gate incorporated to each SET component to enable the phase control of Coulomb oscillations, which is one of the unique characteristics of the SET-based logic circuits.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.77-77
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• 2011

These days, a growing demand for memory device is filled up with the flash memory and the dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Although DRAM is a reasonable solution for current demand, the universal novel memory with high density, high speed and nonvolatility, needs to be developed. Among various new memories, the magnetic random access memory (MRAM) device is considered as one of good candidate memories because of excellent features including high density, high speed, low operating power and nonvolatility. The etching of MTJ stack which is composed of magnetic materials and insulator such as MgO is one of the vital process for MRAM. Recently, MgO has attracted great interest in the MTJ stack as tunneling barrier layer for its high tunneling magnetoresistance values. For the successful realization of high density MRAM, the etching process of MgO thin films should be investigated. Until now, there were some works devoted to the investigations on etch characteristics of MgO thin films. Initially, ion milling was applied to the etching of MgO thin films. However, ion milling has many disadvantages such as sidewall redeposition and etching damage. High density plasma etching containing the magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching and high density reactive ion etching have been employed for the improvement of etching process. In this work, inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICPRIE) system was adopted for the improvement of etching process using MgO thin films and etching gas mixes of $CH_4$/Ar and $CH_4$/$O_2$/Ar have been employed. The etch rates are measured by a surface profilometer and etch profiles are observed using field emission scanning emission microscopy (FESEM). The effects of gas concentration and etch parameters such as coil rf power, dc-bias voltage to substrate, and gas pressure on etch characteristics will be systematically explored.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.28.2-28.2
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• 2011

Resistance random access memory (ReRAM) is a promising candidate for next-generation nonvolatile memory because of its advantageous qualities such as simple structure, superior scalability, fast switching speed, low-power operation, and nondestructive readout. We investigated the resistive switching behavior of tantalum oxide that has been widely used in dynamic random access memories (DRAM) in the present semiconductor industry. As a result, it possesses full compatibility with the entrenched complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor processes. According to previous studies, TiN is a good oxygen reservoir. The TiN top electrode possesses the specific properties to control and modulate oxygen ion reproductively, which results in excellent resistive switching characteristics. This study presents fully room temperature fabricated the TiN/$TaO_x$/Pt devices and their electrical properties for nonvolatile memory application. In addition, we investigated the TiN electrode dependence of the electrical properties in $TaO_x$ memory devices. The devices exhibited a low operation voltage of 0.6 V as well as good endurance up to $10^5$ cycles. Moreover, the benefits of high devise yield multilevel storage possibility make them promising in the next generation nonvolatile memory applications.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.49 no.11
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• pp.603-608
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• 2000

$(Ba, Sr)TiO_{3}$[BST] thin films were fabricated on the Pt/TiO$_2$/SiO$_2$/Si substrate by the RF sputtering. The structure and dielectric properties of the BST thin films with the substrate temperature were investigated. Increasing the substrate temperature, The BST phase increased and barium multi titanate phases decreased. Increasing the frequency, the dielectric constant decreased and the dielectric loss increased. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss of the BST thin films deposited at 50$0^{\circ}C$ were 300 and 0.018, respectively at 1 kHz. The leakage current density of the BST thin films deposited at 50$0^{\circ}C$ was $10^{-9}$ A/$\textrm{cm}^2$ with applied voltage of 3V. Because of the high dielectric constant(300), low dielectric loss(0.018) and low leakage current($10^{-9}$ A/$\textrm{cm}^2$), BST thin films deposited at 50$0^{\circ}C$ is expecting for the application of DRAM.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.387-387
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• 2013

Currently, the flash memory and the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) have been used in a variety of applications. However, the downsizing of devices and the increasing density of recording medias are now in progress. So there are many demands for development of new semiconductor memory for next generation. Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) is one of the prospective semiconductor memories with excellent features including non-volatility, fast access time, unlimited read/write endurance, low operating voltage, and high storage density. MRAM is composed of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). The MTJ stack consists of various magnetic materials, metals, and a tunneling barrier layer. Recently, MgO thin films have attracted a great attention as the prominent candidates for a tunneling barrier layer in the MTJ stack instead of the conventional Al2O3 films, because it has low Gibbs energy, low dielectric constant and high tunneling magnetoresistance value. For the successful etching of high density MRAM, the etching characteristics of MgO thin films as a tunneling barrier layer should be developed. In this study, the etch characteristics of MgO thin films have been investigated in various gas mixes using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICPRIE). The Cl2/Ar, CH3OH/Ar, and CH4/Ar gas mix were employed to find an optimized etching gas for MgO thin film etching. TiN thin films were employed as a hard mask to increase the etch selectivity. The etch rates were obtained using surface profilometer and etch profiles were observed by using the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM).

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.74-74
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• 2009

Titanium nitride has been used as hardmask for semiconductor process, capacitor of MIM type and diffusion barrier of DRAM, due to it's low resistivity, thermodynamic stability and diffusion coefficient. Characteristics of the TiN film are high intensity and chemical stability. The TiN film also has compatibility with high-k material. This study is an experimental test for better condition of TiN film etching process. The etch rate of TiN film was investigated about etching in $BCl_3/Ar/O_2$ plasma using the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching system. The base condition were 4 sccm $BCl_3$ /16 sccm Ar mixed gas and 500 W the RF power, -50 V the DC bias voltage, 10 mTorr the chamber pressure and $40\;^{\circ}C$ the substrate temperature. We added $O_2$ gas to give affect etch rate because $O_2$ reacts with photoresist easily. We had changed $O_2$ gas flow rate from 2 sccm to 8 sccm, the RF power from 500 W to 800 W, the DC bias voltage from -50 V to -200 V, the chamber pressure from 5 mTorr to 20 mTorr and the substrate temperature from $20\;^{\circ}C$ to $80\;^{\circ}C$.

• The KIPS Transactions:PartA
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• v.10A no.3
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• pp.247-254
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• 2003

This paper describes a Delay Locked Loop (DLL) with low supply voltage and wide lock range for Synchronous DRAM which employs Double Data Rate (DDR) technique for faster data transmission. To obtain high resolution and fast lock-on time, a new type of phase detector is designed. The new counter and lock indicator structure are suggested based on the Dual-clock dual-data Flip Flop (DCDD FF). The DCDD FF reduces the size of counter and lock indicator by about 70%. The delay line is composed of coarse and fine units. By the use of fast phase detector, the coarse delay line can detect minute phase difference of 0.2 nsec and below. Aided further by the new type of 3-step vernier fine delay line, this DLL circuit achieves unprecedented timing resolution of 25psec. This DLL spans wide locking range from 500MHz to 500MHz and generates high-speed clocks with fast lock-on time of less than 5 clocks. When designed using 0.25 um CMOS technology with 1.8V supply voltage, the circuit consumes 32mA at 500MHz locked condition. This circuit can be also used for other applications as well, such as synchronization of high frequency communication systems.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.408-408
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• 2012

It is well known that magnetic random access memory (MRAM) is nonvolatile memory devices using ferromagnetic materials. MRAM has the merits such as fast access time, unlimited read/write endurance and nonvolatility. Although DRAM has many advantages containing high storage density, fast access time and low power consumption, it becomes volatile when the power is turned off. Owing to the attractive advantages of MRAM, MRAM is being spotlighted as an alternative device in the future. MRAM consists of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack and complementary metal- oxide semiconductor (CMOS). MTJ stacks are composed of various magnetic materials. FePt thin films are used as a pinned layer of MTJ stack. Up to date, an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICPRIE) method of MTJ stacks showed better results in terms of etch rate and etch profile than any other methods such as ion milling, chemical assisted ion etching (CAIE), reactive ion etching (RIE). In order to improve etch profiles without redepositon, a better etching process of MTJ stack needs to be developed by using different etch gases and etch parameters. In this research, influences of $O_2$ gas on the etching characteristics of FePt thin films were investigated. FePt thin films were etched using ICPRIE in $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mix. The etch rate and the etch selectivity were investigated in various $O_2$ concentrations. The etch profiles were studied in varying etch parameters such as coil rf power, dc-bias voltage, and gas pressure. TiN was employed as a hard mask. For observation etch profiles, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) was used.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.390-390
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• 2012

Information technology industries has grown rapidly and demanded alternative memories for the next generation. The most popular random access memory, dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), has many advantages as a memory, but it could not meet the demands from the current of developed industries. One of highlighted alternative memories is magnetic random-access memory (MRAM). It has many advantages like low power consumption, huge storage, high operating speed, and non-volatile properties. MRAM consists of magnetic-tunnel-junction (MTJ) stack which is a key part of it and has various magnetic thin films like CoFeB, FePt, IrMn, and so on. Each magnetic thin film is difficult to be etched without any damages and react with chemical species in plasma. For improving the etching process, a high density plasma etching process was employed. Moreover, the previous etching gases were highly corrosive and dangerous. Therefore, the safety etching gases are needed to be developed. In this research, the etch characteristics of CoFeB magnetic thin films were studied by using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching in $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mixes. TiN thin films were used as a hardmask on CoFeB thin films. The concentrations of $O_2$ in $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mix were varied, and then, the rf coil power, gas pressure, and dc-bias voltage. The etch rates and the selectivity were obtained by a surface profiler and the etch profiles were observed by a field emission scanning electron microscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was employed to reveal the etch mechanism.