• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.378-384
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• 2003

Etching species in CF$_4$/Ar plasma and the behavior of etching rate of Bi$_4$-$_{x}$L$_{x}$rTi$_3$O$_2$ (BLT) films were investigated in inductively coupled plasma (ICP) reactor in terms of etch parameters. The etching rate as functions of CF$_4$ contents showed the maximum 803 $\AA$/min at 20% CF$_4$ addition in CF$_4$/Ar plasma. The increase of RF power and DC bias voltage caused to an increase of etch rate. The variation of relative volume densities for F and he atoms were measured with the optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The chemical states of BLT were investigated with using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XPS narrow scan analysis shows that La-fluorides remained on the etched surface. The presence of maximum etch rate at CF$_4$(20%)/Ar(80%) may be explained by the concurrence of two etching mechanisms such as physical sputtering and chemical reaction. The roles of he ion bombardment include destruction of metal (Bi, La, Ti)-O bonds as well as assistant for chemical reaction of metals with fluorine atoms.oms.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.498-504
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• 2006

The etch rates of photoresist (PR) and the etch selectivity of $SiO_2$ to PR in a high density $CHF_3$ plasma were investigated at different ion-incident angles and bias voltages. A Faraday cage was employed for the accurate control of ion-incident angles. The ion energy was controlled by changing bias voltages. The etch rate of $SiO_2$ continuously decreased with ion-incident angles but the etch rate of PR remained constant up to the middle angle region and decreased afterwards. The etch rates of $SiO_2$ normalized to those at $0^{\circ}$ incident angle changed with the ion-incident angle following a cosine(${\theta}$) curve. On the other hand, the normalized etch rates of the PR changed showing a drastic over-cosine shape in the middle angle region. The etch selectivity of $SiO_2$ to PR decreased with an increase in the ion-incident angle because the etch yields of PR were enhanced by physical sputtering in the middle angle region compared to the case of $SiO_2$ etching. The etch selectivity of $SiO_2$ to PR decreased with an increase in the bias voltage at nearly all ion-incident angles.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.07b
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• pp.734-737
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• 2004

The metal-ferroelectric-semiconductor (MFS) structure is widely studied for nondestructive readout (NDRO) memory devices, but conventional MFS structure has a critical problem. It is difficult to obtain ferroelectric films like PZT on Si substrate without interdiffusion of impurities such as Pb, Ti and other elements. In order to solve these problems, the metal-ferroelectric-insulator-semiconductor (MFIS) structure has been proposed with a buffer layer of high dielectric constant such as MgO, $Y_2O_3$, and $CeO_2$. In this study, the etching characteristics (etch rate, selectivity) of MgO thin films were etched using $Cl_2/Ar$ plasma. The maximum etch rate of 85 nm/min for MgO thin films was obtained at $Cl_2$(30%)/Ar(70%) gas mixing ratio. Also, the etch rate was measured by varying the etching parameters such as ICP rf power, dc-bias voltage, and chamber pressure. Plasma diagnostics was performed by Langmuir probe (LP) and optical emission spectroscopy (OES).

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.846-851
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• 2007

In this work, the etching characteristics of $Ge_2Sb_2Te_5(GST)$ thin films were investigated using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) of $Cl_2/Ar$ gas mixture. To analyze the etching mechanism, an optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and surface analysis using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were carried out. The etch rate of the GST films decreased with decreasing Ar fraction. At the same time, high selective etch rate over $SiO_2$ films was obtained and the selectivity over photoresist films decreased with increasing the he fraction. From XPS results, we found that Te halides were formed at the etching surface and Te halides limited the etch rate of the GST films.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.67-67
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• 2009

Due to the scaling down of the dielectrics thickness, the leakage currents arising from electron tunneling through the dielectrics has become the major technical barrier. Thus, much works has focused on the development of high k dielectrics in both cases of memories and CMOS fields. Among the high-k materials, $Al_2O_3$ considered as good candidate has been attracting much attentions, which own some good properties as high dielectric constant k value (~9), a high bandgap (~2eV) and elevated crystallization temperature, etc. Due to the easy control of ion energy and flux, low ownership and simple structure of the inductively coupled plasma (ICP), we chose it for high-density plasma in our study. And the $BCl_3$ was included in the gas due to the effective extraction of oxygen in the form of BClxOy compound. In this study, the etch characteristic of ALD deposited $Al_2O_3$ thin film was investigated in $BCl_3/N_2$ plasma. The experiment were performed by comparing etch rates and selectivity of $Al_2O_3$ over $SiO_2$ as functions of the input plasma parameters such as gas mixing ratio, DC-bias voltage and RF power and process pressure. The maximum etch rate was obtained under 15 mTorr process perssure, 700 W RF power, $BCl_3$(6 sccm)/$N_2$(14 sccm) plasma, and the highest etch selectivity was 1.9. We used the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to investigate the chemical reactions on the etched surface. The Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) was used for elemental analysis of etched surface.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.563-567
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• 2000

We presented the etch results of indium-tin oxide thin films by using SF$_{6}$/O$_2$gas electron cyclotron resonance plasma and conducted X-ray phtoelectron spectroscopy and quadrupole mass spectrometer analyses for the etch characteristics. The etch rate of the films was greatly dependent on that of oxygen which was the major constituent element of the films. The oxygen was removed by the forms like $O_2$or SOF$_2$. We examined the ratio of atomic content of O and In and the change of this ratio was related to the removal rate of InF$_{x}$ and the S-metal bonding.ing.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.349-354
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• 2007

In this work, we investigated etching characteristics of $HfO_2$ thin film and Si using inductive coupled plasma(ICP) system. The ion energy distribution functions in an ICP system was analyzed by quadrupole mass spectrometer(QMS) with an electrostatic ion energy analyzer. The maximum etch rate of $HfO_2$ thin film is 85.5 nm/min at a $BCl_3/(BCl_3+Ar)$ of 20 % and decreased with further addition of $BCl_3$ gas. From the QMS measurements, the most dominant positive ion energy distributions(IEDS) showed a maximum at 20 % of $BCl_3$. These tendency was very similar to the etch characteristics. This result agreed with the universal energy dependency of ion enhanced chemical etching yields. And the maximum selectivity of $HfO_2$ over Si is 3.05 at a $O_2$ addition of 2 sccm into the $BCl_3/(BCl_3+Ar)$ of 20 % plasma.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.775-778
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• 2003

We studied InP etching in high density planar inductively coupled $BCl_3$and $BCl_3$/Ar plasmas(PICP). The investigated process parameters were PICP source power, RIE chuck power, chamber pressure and $BCl_3$/Ar gas composition. It was found that increase of PICP source power and RIE chuck power increased etch rate of InP, while that of chamber pressure decreased etch rate. Etched InP surface was clean and smooth (RMS roughness <2 nm) with a moderate etch rate (300-500 $\AA$/min) after the planar $BCl_3$/Ar ICP etching. It may make it possible to open a new regime of InP etching with $CH_4$$H_2$-free plasma chemistry. Some amount of Ar addition (<50%) also improved etch rates of InP, while too much Ar addition reduced etch rates of InP.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.61.1-61.1
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• 2015

Nanoscale semiconductor plasma processing has become one of the most challenging issues due to the limits of physicochemical fabrication routes with its inherent complexity. The mission of future and emerging plasma processing for development of next generation semiconductor processing is to achieve the ideal nanostructures without abnormal profiles and damages, such as 3D NAND cell array with ultra-high aspect ratio, cylinder capacitors, shallow trench isolation, and 3D logic devices. In spite of significant contributions of research frontiers, these processes are still unveiled due to their inherent complexity of physicochemical behaviors, and gaps in academic research prevent their predictable simulation. To overcome these issues, a Korean plasma consortium began in 2009 with the principal aim to develop a realistic and ultrafast 3D topography simulator of semiconductor plasma processing coupled with zero-D bulk plasma models. In this work, aspects of this computational tool are introduced. The simulator was composed of a multiple 3D level-set based moving algorithm, zero-D bulk plasma module including pulsed plasma processing, a 3D ballistic transport module, and a surface reaction module. The main rate coefficients in bulk and surface reaction models were extracted by molecular simulations or fitting experimental data from several diagnostic tools in an inductively coupled fluorocarbon plasma system. Furthermore, it is well known that realistic ballistic transport is a simulation bottleneck due to the brute-force computation required. In this work, effective parallel computing using graphics processing units was applied to improve the computational performance drastically, so that computer-aided design of these processes is possible due to drastically reduced computational time. Finally, it is demonstrated that 3D feature profile simulations coupled with bulk plasma models can lead to better understanding of abnormal behaviors, such as necking, bowing, etch stops and twisting during high aspect ratio contact hole etch.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.132-136
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• 2009

This study investigates GaAs dry etching in capacitively coupled $BCl_3/N_2$ plasma at a low vacuum pressure (>100 mTorr). The applied etch process parameters were a RIE chuck power ranging from $100{\sim}200W$ on the electrodes and a $N_2$ composition ranging from $0{\sim}100%$ in $BCl_3/N_2$ plasma mixtures. After the etch process, the etch rates, RMS roughness and etch selectivity of the GaAs over a photoresist was investigated. Surface profilometry and field emission-scanning electron microscopy were used to analyze the etch characteristics of the GaAs substrate. It was found that the highest etch rate of GaAs was $0.4{\mu}m/min$ at a 20 % $N_2$ composition in $BCl_3/N_2$ (i.e., 16 sccm $BCl_3/4$ sccm $N_2$). It was also noted that the etch rate of GaAs was $0.22{\mu}m/min$ at 20 sccm $BCl_3$ (100 % $BCl_3$). Therefore, there was a clear catalytic effect of $N_2$ during the $BCl_3/N_2$ plasma etching process. The RMS roughness of GaAs after etching was very low (${\sim}3nm$) when the percentage of $N_2$ was 20 %. However, the surface roughness became rougher with higher percentages of $N_2$.