• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.46.5-46
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• 2002

As device dimension shrinks down to sub 100nm, it is increasingly important to monitor plasma states. Plasma etching is a key means to fine patterning of thin films. Many parameters are involved in etching and each parameter has different impact on process performances, including etch rate and profile. The uniformity of etch responses should be maintained high to improve device yield and throughput. The uniformity can be measured on any etch response. The most difficulty arises when attempting to characterize etched profile. Conventionally, the profile has been estimated by measuring the slope or angle of etched pattern. One critical drawback in this measurement is that this is unable to cap...

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.286-291
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• 2003

(Pb,Sr)TiO$_3$(PST) thin films have attracted great interest as new dielectric materials of capacitors for Gbit dynamic random access memories. In this study, inductively coupled CF$_4$/Ar plasma was used to etch PST thin films. The maximum etch rate of PST thin films was 740 $\AA$/min at a CF$_4$(20 %)/Ar(80 %) 9as mixing ratio, an RF power of 800 W, a DC bias voltage of -200 V, a total gas flow of 20 sccm, and a chamber pressure of 15 mTorr. To clarify the etching mechanism, the residue on the surface of the etched PST thin films was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that Pb was mainly removed by physically assisted chemical etching. Sputter etching was effective in the etching of Sr than the chemical reaction of F with Sr, while Ti can almost removed by chemical reaction.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.91-96
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• 1997

The electrical characteristics and the plasma parameters of planar inductively coupled plasmas (ICP) have been measured. The resistance of the total load including the coil and the plasma varied from 1 to 4 W and the inductance from 1.5 m to 2 mH when the power was changed from 100 to 1000 W and the pressure from 1 to 10 mTorr. The density of electron measured by Langmuir probe was over $10^{11}/\textrm{cm}^3$ and the temperature varied between 3 and 5 eV as the process conditions were changed. Bias modulation was adopted as a new method to improve the selectivity of $SiO_2$on Si in $C_4F_8$ (octafluorocyclobutane) plasma. The selectivity was improved as the duty ratio decreased, but the etch rate of $SiO_2$decreased below 400$\AA$/min. $H_2$addition to $C_4F_8$ plasma showed that the etch selectivity could be higher than 50 and the etch rate of $SiO_2$over 2000$\AA$/min when 60% $H_2$was added.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.288-295
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• 2009

We report the etch characteristics of GaAs and AlGaAs in the diffusion pump-based capacitively coupled $BCl_3$ plasma. Process variables were chamber pressure ($50{\sim}180$ mTorr), CCP power ($50{\sim}200\;W$) and $BCl_3$ gas flow rate ($2.5{\sim}10$ sccm). Surface profilometry was used for etch rate and surface roughness measurement after etching. Scanning electron microscopy was used to analyze the etched sidewall and surface morphology. Optical emission spectroscopy was used in order to characterize the emission peaks of the $BCl_3$ plasma during etching. We have achieved $0.25{\mu}m$/min of GaAs etch rate with only 5 sccm $BCl_3$ flow rate when the chamber pressure was in the range of 50{\sim}130 mTorr. The etch rates of AlGaAs were a little lower than those of GaAs at the conditions. However, the etch rates of GaAs and AlGaAs decreased significantly when the chamber pressure increased to 180 mTorr. GaAs and AlGaAs were not etched with 50 W CCP power. With $100{\sim}200\;W$ CCP power, etch rates of the materials increased over $0.3{\mu}m$/min. It was found that the etch rates of GaAs and AlGaAs were not always proportional to the increase of CCP power. We also found the interesting result that AlGaAs did not etched at 2.5 sccm $BCl_3$ flow rate at 75 mTorr and 100 W CCP power even though it was etched fast like GaAs with more $BCl_3$ gas flow rates. By contrast, GaAs was etched at ${{\sim}}0.3{\mu}m$/min at the 2.5 sccm $BCl_3$ flow rate condition. A broad molecular peak was noticed in the range of $500{\sim}700\;mm$ wavelength during the $BCl_3$ plasma etching. SEM photos showed that 10 sccm $BCl_3$ plama produced more undercutting on GaAs sidewall than 5 sccm $BCl_3$ plasma.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.68-72
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• 2009

This study investigated dry etching of acrylic in capacitively coupled $SF_6$, $SF_6/O_2$ and $SF_6/CH_4$ plasma under a low vacuum pressure. The process pressure was 100 mTorr and the total gas flow rate was fixed at 10 sccm. The process variables were the RIE chuck power and the plasma gas composition. The RIE chuck power varied in the range of $25{\sim}150\;W$. $SF_6/O_2$ plasma produced higher etch rates of acrylic than pure $SF_6$ and $O_2$ at a fixed total flow rate. 5 sccm $SF_6$/5 sccm $O_2$ provided $0.11{\mu}m$/min and $1.16{\mu}m$/min at 25W and 150W RIE of chuck power, respectively. The results were nearly 2.9 times higher compared to those at pure $SF_6$ plasma etching. Additionally, mixed plasma of $SF_6/CH_4$ reduced the etch rate of acrylic. 5 sccm $SF_6$/5 sccm $CH_4$ plasma resulted in $0.02{\mu}m$/min and $0.07{\mu}m$/min at 25W and 150W RIE of chuck power. The etch selectivity of acrylic to photoresist was higher in $SF_6/O_2$ plasma than in pure $SF_6$ or $SF_6/CH_4$ plasma. The maximum RMS roughness (7.6 nm) of an etched acrylic surface was found to be 50% $O_2$ in $SF_6/O_2$ plasma. Besides the process regime, the RMS roughness of acrylic was approximately $3{\sim}4\;nm$ at different percentages of $O_2$ with a chuck power of 100W RIE in $SF_6/O_2$ plasma etching.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.210-210
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• 2011

The effects of CH2F2 and N2 gas flow rates on the etch selectivity of silicon nitride (Si3N4) layers to extreme ultra-violet (EUV) resist and the variation of the line edge roughness (LER) of the EUV resist and Si3N4 pattern were investigated during etching of a Si3N4/EUV resist structure in dual-frequency superimposed CH2F2/N2/Ar capacitive coupled plasmas (DFS-CCP). The flow rates of CH2F2 and N2 gases played a critical role in determining the process window for ultra-high etch selectivity of Si3N4/EUV resist due to disproportionate changes in the degree of polymerization on the Si3N4 and EUV resist surfaces. Increasing the CH2F2 flow rate resulted in a smaller steady state CHxFy thickness on the Si3N4 and, in turn, enhanced the Si3N4 etch rate due to enhanced SiF4 formation, while a CHxFy layer was deposited on the EUV resist surface protecting the resist under certain N2 flow conditions. The LER values of the etched resist tended to increase at higher CH2F2 flow rates compared to the lower CH2F2 flow rates that resulted from the increased degree of polymerization.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.161-168
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• 1998

Reactive ion etching process for InGaAs/InP using the CH4/H2 high density inductively coupled plasma was investigated. The experimental design method proposed by Taguchi was utilized to cover the whole parameter range while maintaining reasonable number of actual experiments. Results showed that the ICP power mainly affects surface roughness and verticality of the sidewall, bias power does etch rate and verticality, CH4 gas concentraion does the verticality and etch rate, and the distance between the induction coil and specimen mostly affects the surface roughness. It was also observed that the chamber pressure is the dominant parameter for the etch rate and verticality of the sidewall. The optimum condition was ICP power 700W, bias power 150 W, 15% $CH_4$, 7.5 mTorr, and 14 cm distance, resulting in about 3 $\mu\textrm{m}$/hr etch rate with smooth surfaces and vertical mesa sidewalls.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.458-458
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• 2010

The process window for the etch selectivity of silicon nitride ($Si_3N_4$) layers to extreme ultra-violet (EUV) resist and variation of line edge roughness (LER) of EUV resist were investigated durin getching of $Si_3N_4$/EUV resist structure in a dual-frequency superimposed capacitive coupled plasma (DFS-CCP) etcher by varying the process parameters, such as the $CH_2F_2$ and $N_2$ gas flow rate in $CH_2F_2/N_2$/Ar plasma. The $CH_2F_2$ and $N_2$ flow rate was found to play a critical role in determining the process window for infinite etch selectivity of $Si_3N_4$/EUV resist, due to disproportionate changes in the degree of polymerization on $Si_3N_4$ and EUV resist surfaces. The preferential chemical reaction between hydrogen and carbon in the hydrofluorocarbon ($CH_xF_y$) polymer layer and the nitrogen and oxygen on the $Si_3N_4$, presumably leading to the formation of HCN, CO, and $CO_2$ etch by-products, results in a smaller steady-state hydrofluorocarbon thickness on $Si_3N_4$ and, in turn, in continuous $Si_3N_4$ etching due to enhanced $SiF_4$ formation, while the $CH_xF_y$ layer is deposited on the EUV resist surface. Also critical dimension (and line edge roughness) tend to decrease with increasing $N_2$ flow rate due to decreased degree of polymerization.

• Journal of Information Display
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.26-30
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• 2002

Large area plasma source has been built for LCD etcher by an array of $2{\times}2$ ICP sources. Since only one RF power supply and one impedance matching network is used in this configuration, any difference in impedances of unit RF antennas causes unbalanced power delivery to the unit ICP. In order to solve this unavoidable unbalance, unit antenna is designed to have a movable tap, with which the inductance of each unit can be adjusted individually. The plasma density becomes symmetric and etch rate becomes more uniform with the impedance adjustment. The concept of adding axial time-varying magnetic field to the single ICP source is applied to the array ICP source, and is found to be effective in terms of etch rate and uniformity.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.1399-1401
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• 2009

In this article, we reported the results of etching polymonochloro-para-xylylene (parylene-C) thin films using inductively coupled plasma and $CF_4/O_2$ gas mixture. The $CF_4$ gas fraction increased up to the approximately 16 %, the polymer etch rate increased in the range of 277 - 373 nm/min. It confirmed that the etch rate of the parylene-C mainly depended on the O radical density in the plasma. Using a contact angle measurement, the contact angle increased with increasing the $CF_4$ fraction. Moreover, the contact angle was highly related a $CF_x$ functional group on parylene films.