• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.95-102
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• 2022

Since the organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have been widely investigated as next-generation displays, it has been successfully commercialized as a flexible and rollable display. However, there is still wide room and demand to improve the device characteristics such as power efficiency and lifetime. To solve this issue, there has been a wide research effort, and among them, the internal and the external light extraction techniques have been attracted in this research field by its fascinating characteristic of material independence. In this study, a micro-nano composite structured external light extraction layer was demonstrated. A reactive ion etching (RIE) process was performed on the surfaces of hexagonally packed hemisphere micro-lens array (MLA) and randomly distributed sphere diffusing films to form micro-nano composite structures. Random nanostructures of different sizes were fabricated by controlling the processing time of the O₂ / CHF₃ plasma. The fabricated device using a micro-nano composite external light extraction layer showed 1.38X improved external quantum efficiency compared to the reference device. The results prove that the external light extraction efficiency is improved by applying the micro-nano composite structure on conventional MLA fabricated through a simple process.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.29.1-29.1
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• 2009

반도체 공정에서의 금속 배선 공정은 매우 중요한 공정 중 하나이다. 기존에 사용되던 알루미늄이 한계에 다다르면서, 대체 재료로 사용되고있는 구리는 낮은 비저항, 높은 열전도도, 우수한 electromigration(EM)저항특성 등을 바탕으로 차세대 nano-scale집적회로의 interconnect application에 적합한 금속재료로서 각광받고 있다. Electroplating을 위한 구리 seed layer CVD 공정은 타 공정에 비해 step coverage가 우수한 막을 증착할 수 있어 고집적 소자의 구현이 가능하다. 본 연구에 이용된 2가 전구체 Cu(dmamb)2는 높은 증기압과 높은 활성화 에너지를 가짐으로서 열적안정성 및 보관안정성이 우수하며, 플루오르를 함유하지 않아 친환경적이다. 구리 증착 전 기판에 plasma 처리를 하면 표면 morphology가 변함에 따라 표면 에너지가 변화하고, 이는 구리의 2차원 성장에 유리하게 작용할 것으로 여겨진다. Plasma의 조건변화에 따른 기판의 morphology 변화 및 성막된 구리의 특성 변화를 분석하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.188-194
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• 2024

This paper introduces an optimized oxygen (O₂) plasma surface treatment technique to enhance sphere lithography on hydrophobic photoresist surfaces. The focus is on semiconductor manufacturing, particularly the creation of finer structures beyond the capabilities of traditional photolithography. The key breakthrough is a method that makes substrate surfaces hydrophilic without altering photoresist patterns. This is achieved by meticulously controlling the O₂ plasma treatment duration. The result is the consistent formation of nano and microscale patterns across large areas. From an academic perspective, the study deepens our understanding of surface treatments in pattern formation. Industrially, it heralds significant progress in semiconductor and precision manufacturing sectors, promising enhanced capabilities and efficiency.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.639-645
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• 2012

Embossed $TiO_2$ thin films with high surface areas are achieved using soft-templates composed of monolayer polystyrene beads. The form of links between the beads in the templates is controlled by varying the $O_2$ plasma etching time on the templates, resulting in various templates with close-linked, nano-linked, and isolated beads. Room-temperature deposition of $TiO_2$ on the plasma-treated templates and calcination at $550^{\circ}C$ result in embossed films with tailored links between anatase $TiO_2$ hollow hemispheres. Although all the embossed films have similar surface areas, the sensitivity of films with nano-linked $TiO_2$ hollow hemispheres to 500 ppm CO and ethanol gases are much higher than that of films with close-linked and isolated hollow hemispheres, and the detection limits of them are as low as 0.6 ppm for CO and 0.1 ppm for ethanol. The strong correlation of sensitivity with the form of links between hollow hemispheres reveals the critical role of potential barriers formed at the links. The facile, large-scale, and on-chip fabrication of embossed $TiO_2$ films with nano-linked hollow hemispheres on Si substrate and the high sensitivity without the aid of additives give us a sustainable competitive advantage over various methods for the fabrication of highly sensitive $TiO_2$-based sensors.

• Composites Research
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.13-18
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• 2010

One of the biggest challenges in the nano-field is how to effectively disperse nano-scale particles, especially CNTs, which are strongly agglomerated by intermolecular van der Waals forces. This study suggests a new method, discharge flocking, in order to disperse nano-scale particles effectively, which combines corona discharge phenomenon and a traditional electrostatic flocking process. In order to evaluate the discharge flocking process, composite specimens were fabricated by the process and RFI(resin film infusion) process, and then the mechanical and electrical properties of the specimens were measured and compared. Moreover, the evaluation of gas discharge effect on the CNTs and epoxy was performed to compare the mechanical and electrical properties of the composite specimens including the plasma treated CNTs. The experimental results showed that the electrical and mechanical properties of the specimens fabricated by the discharge flocking process were similar to those of the RFI process. In addition, plasma treated CNTs were not affected by gas discharge during the discharge flocking process.

• 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).

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.259-265
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• 2004

The microstructure of nano-sized hydroxyapatite (HAp) powders coating layer on ZrO$_2$ substrate was investigated, which was formed by plasma spray process. The nano-sized HAp powders were successfully synthesized by precipitation of Ca(NO$_3$)$_2$$.$4H$_2$O and (NH$_4$)$_2$HPO$_4$ solution. The HAp coating layer with thickness of 150∼250 $\mu\textrm{m}$ was free from the cracks at interfaces between the coating and ZrO$_2$ substrate. In the plasma sprayed HAp coating layer, the undesirable phases were not found, while in the HAp coating layer heat-treated at 800$^{\circ}C$, TTCP, and ${\beta}$-TCP phase were detected as well as HAp phase. However, at 900$^{\circ}C$, they were completely disappeared. At 1100$^{\circ}C$, XRD analysis revealed that the coating layer was composed of the highly crystallized HAp.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.113-116
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• 2008

As the integration in semiconductor display develops, semiconductor process becomes multilayer. In order to form several layer patterns, etching process which uses photoresistor (PR) must be performed in multilayer process. Repeated etching processes which take long time and PR residue cause mortal problems in semiconductor. To overcome such problems, we studied about the solution which eliminates PR effectively by using normal dry and wet etching method using plasma activated PR strip solvent in liquid condition. At first, we simulate the device which activates the plasma and make sure whether gas flow in device is uniform or not. Under activated plasma, etching effect is elevated. This improvement reduces etching time as well as display production time of semiconductor process. Generally, increasing etching process increases environmental hazards. Reducing etching process can save the etchant and protect environment as well.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.701-706
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• 2008

Nano-sized nickel powders were prepared by evaporating the bulk nickel metarial using transferred arc thermal plasma. Nitrogen gases are easily dissociated to atomic nitrogen in thermal plasma and they are quickly dissolved in molten nickel. Super-saturated atomic nitrogen in molten nickel is recombined to nitrogen gas because of the relatively low temperature of nickel surface. Generally, the recombine reaction of atomic nitrogen is exothermic, so bulk nickel is quickly evaporated to nickel vapor due to the thermal energy of recombine reaction. The particle size of nickel powder was controlled by $N_2$ used as the diluting gas. It was observed that as the diluting gas flow rate was increase, the particle size was decreased and the particle size distribution was narrowed. The average particle size at 250 l/min of the diluting gas was 202 nm analyzed by means of the particle size analyzer (PSA).

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.11 no.4 s.33
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• pp.29-35
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• 2004

We have deposited the W-N diffusion barrier on Si substrate with $NH_3$ pulse plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PPALD) method by using $WF_6$ and $NH_3$ gases. The $WF_6$ gas reacts with Si that the surface corrosion occurs severely, but the $NH_3$ gas incorporated with pulse plasma and $WF_6$ gas are easily deposited W-N thin film without Si surface corrosion. Because the $NH_3$ with pulse plasma can be active species dissociated and chemisorbed on Si. Thus the Si surface are covered and saturated with nitrogen, which are able to deposit the W-N thin film. We also examine the deposition mechanism and the effect of $NH_3$ pulse plasma treatment.