• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.229-233
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• 2007

In this study, we carried out an investigation of the etching characteristics(etch rate, selectivity) of $HfO_2$ thin films in the $CH_4/Ar$ inductively coupled plasma. It was found that variations of input power and negative dc-bias voltage are investigated by the monotonic changes of the $HfO_2$ etch rate as it generally expected from the corresponding variations of plasma parameters. At the same time, a change in either gas pressure or in gas mixing ratio result in non-monotonic etch rate that reaches a maximum at 2 Pa and for $CH_4(20%)/Ar(80%)$ gas mixture, respectively. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed an efficient destruction of the oxide bonds by the ion bombardment as well as showed an accumulation of low volatile reaction products on the etched surface. Based on these data, the ion-assisted chemical reaction was proposed as the main etch mechanism for the $CH_4-containing$ plasmas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.17-18
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• 2007

The etching characteristics of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and etch selectivity of ZnO to $SiO_2\;in\;BCl_3$/Ar plasma were investigated. It was found that ZnO etch rate shows a non-monotonic behavior with increasing both Ar fraction in $BCl_3$ plasma, RF power, and gas pressure. The maximum ZnO etch rate of 50.3 nm/min was obtained for $BCl_3$ (80%)/Ar(20%) gas mixture. The plasmas were characterized using optical emission spectroscopy (OES) analysis measurements while chemical state of etched surfaces was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). From these data the suggestions on the ZnO etch mechanism were made.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.361-365
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• 2005

Cement-reinforcing carbon fibers were surface-modified with $O_2$, $H_2O$, acrylic acid, diaminocyclohexane plasmas and their effects were investigated. Hydrophobic surfaces with water contact angles of $75{\sim}80^{\circ}$ were changed to hydrophilic surfaces. The water contact angles were reduced down to lower than $10^{\circ}$. As a result, the fiber's hygroscopic property and dispersion in water were improved. Also, Zeta potential of the fiber in water was changed from a negative value to positive values. As a result, adhesion with cement that had a negative Zeta potential was improved up to 57~124% through increased electrostatic interaction.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.252-253
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• 2009

In this study, the deformation and etch characteristics of ArF and EUV photoresists were compared in a dual frequency superimposed capacitively coupled plasma (DFS-CCP) etcher systems using $CF_{4}/O_{2}/Ar$ and $CF_{4}/CHF_{3}/O_{2}/Ar$ mixture gas chemistry which are typically used for BARC open and $Si_{3}N_{4}$ teching chemistry, respectively. Etch rate of the resists tend to increase with low-frequency source power ($P_{LF}$) and high-frequency source ($f_{HF}$). The etch rate of ArF resist was hgither than that of EUV resist.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2008.08a
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• pp.291-291
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• 2008

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.259-259
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• 2010

Periodically polarity inverted (PPI) ZnO structures on (0001) Al2O3 substrates are demonstrated by plasmas assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The patterning and re-growth methods are used to realize the PPI ZnO by employing the polarity controlling method. For the in-situ polarity controlling of ZnO films, Cr-compound buffer layers are used.[1, 2] The region with the CrN intermediate layer and the region with the Cr2O3 and Al2O3 substrate were used to grow the Zn- and O-polar ZnO films, respectively. The growth behaviors with anisotropic properties of PPI ZnO heterostructures are investigated. The periodical polarity inversion is evaluated by contrast images of piezo-response microscopy. Structural and optical interface properties of PPI ZnO are investigated by the transmission electron microcopy (TEM) and micro photoluminescence ($\mu$-PL). The inversion domain boundaries (IDBs) between the Zn and the O-polar ZnO regions were clearly observed by TEM. Moreover, the investigation of spatially resolved local photoluminescence characteristics of PPI ZnO revealed stronger excitonic emission at the interfacial region with the IDBs compared to the Zn-polar or the O-polar ZnO region. The possible mechanisms will be discussed with the consideration of the atomic configuration, carrier life time, and geometrical effects. The successful realization of PPI structures with nanometer scale period indicates the possibility for the application to the photonic band-gap structures or waveguide fabrication. The details of application and results will be discussed.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.72-74
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• 2004

In this study, we used a inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source for etching $Al_2O_3$ thin films because of its high plasma density, low process pressure and easy control bias power. $Al_2O_3$ thin films were etched using $Cl_2/BCl_3$, $N_2/Cl_2/BCl_3$, and Ar/$Cl_2/BCl_3$ plasma. The experiments were carried out measuring the etch rates and the selectivities of $Al_2O_3$ to $SiO_2$ as a function of gas mixing ratio, rf power, and chamber pressure. When $Cl_2$ 50% was added to $Cl_2/BCl_3$ plasma, the etch rate of the $Al_2O_3$ films was 118 nm/min. We also investigated the effect of gas addition. In case of $N_2$ addition, the etch rate of the $Al_2O_3$ films decreased while $N_2$ was added into $Cl_2/BCl_3$ plasma. However, the etch rate increased slightly as Ar added into $Cl_2/BCl_3$ plasma, and then further increase of Ar decreased the etch rate. The maximum etch rate was 130 nm/min at Ar 20% in $Cl_2/BCl_3$ plasma, and the highest etch selectivity was 0.81 in $N_2$ 20% in $Cl_2/BCl_3$ plasma. And, we obtained the results that the etch rate increases as rf power increases and chamber pressure decreases. The characteristics of the plasmas were estimated using optical emission spectroscopy (OES).

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.37 no.7
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• pp.1-6
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• 2000

In this study, the effects of the addition of $N_2$ gas into the $Cl_2$ (90)/Ar(10) gas mixture, which has been proposed as the optimized etching gas combination, for etching of platinum was performed. The selectivity of platinum film to $SiO_2$ film etch mask increased with the addition of $N_2$ gas, and etch profile over 75 $^{\circ}$ could be obtained when 20 % additive $N_2$ gas was added. These phenomena were interpreted as the results of a formation of blocking layer such as Si-N or Si-O-N on the $SiO_2$ mask. The maximum etch rate of Pt film and selectivity of Pt to $SiO_2$ are 1425 ${\AA}$/min and 1.71, respectively. These improvements were considered to be due to the formation of more volatile compounds such as Pt-N or Pt-N-Cl.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.250-251
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• 2009

For the fabrication of a multilevel resist (MLR) based on a very thin amorphous carbon (a-C) layer an $Si_{3}N_{4}$ hard-mask layer, the selective etching of the $Si_{3}N_{4}$ layer using physical-vapor-deposited (PVD) a-C mask was investigated in a dual-frequency superimposed capacitively coupled plasma etcher by varying the following process parameters in $CH_{2}F_{2}/H_{2}/Ar$ plasmas : HF/LF powr ratio ($P_{HF}/P_{LF}$), and $CH_{2}F_{2}$ and $H_2$ flow rates. It was found that infinitely high etch selectivities of the $Si_{3}N_{4}$ layers to the PVD a-C on both the blanket and patterned wafers could be obtained for certain gas flow conditions. The $H_2$ and $CH_{2}F_{2}$ flow ratio was found to play a critical role in determining the process window for infinite $Si_{3}N_{4}$/PVDa-C etch selectivity, due to the change in the degree of polymerization. Etching of ArF PR/BARC/$SiO_x$/PVDa-C/$Si_{3}N_{4}$ MLR structure supported the possibility of using a very thin PVD a-C layer as an etch-mask layer for the $Si_{3}N_{4}$ layer.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.2 s.273
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• pp.94-98
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• 2005

$RuO_2$ is widely studied as a lower electrode material for high dielectric capacitors in DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memories) and FRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memories). In this study, the effects of hydrogen, oxygen, and argon Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) plasma pretreatments on deposited by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) $RuO_2$ nucleation was investigated using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) analyses. Argon ECR plasma pretreatment was found to offer the highest $RuO_2$ nucleation density among these three pretreatments. The mechanism through which $RuO_2$ nucleation is enhanced by ECR plasma pretreatment may be that the argon or the hydrogen ECR plasma removes nitrogen and oxygen atoms at the TiN film surface so that the underlying TiN film surface is changed to Ti-rich TiN.