• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.75-79
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• 2003

We studied InP etch results in high density planar inductively coupled $BCl_3$ and $BCl_3$/Ar plasmas. The investigated process parameters were ICP source power, RIE chuck power, chamber pressure and $BCl_3$/Ar gas composition. It was found that increase of ICP source power and RIE chuck power raised 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 ($300\;{\sim}\;500\;{\AA}/min$) 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.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.445-448
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• 2011

In this study, the etching characteristics of $Al_2O_3$ thin films were investigated using an ICP (inductively coupled plasma) of $BCl_3$/Ar gas mixture. The etch rate of $Al_2O_3$ thin films as well as the $SiO_2/Al_2O_3$ etch selectivity were measured as functions of $BCl_3$/Ar mixing ratio (0~100% Ar) at a constant gas pressure (10 mTorr), total gas flow rate (40 sccm), input power (800 W) and bias power (100 W). The behavior of the $Al_2O_3$ etch rate was shown to be quite typical for ion-assisted etch processes with a dominant chemical etch pathway. To analyze the etching mechanism using DLP (double langmuir probe), OES (optical emission spectroscopy) and surface analysis using XPS (x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) were carried out.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.309-311
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• 2003

The effects of etch parameters on dry etching of BLT thin films were investigated with ICP etch system in $Cl_2$/Ar and $BCl_2/Cl_2$/Ar gas. The etch rate and etch selectivity of BLT films were examined as a function of gas concentration, ICP power, bias power, and pressure. The maximum etch rates of 191.1 nm/min was obtained at the mixed etch condition of $BCl_3(20%)/Cl_2$/Ar, 700 W ICP RF power, 12 mTorr pressure and 400 W substrate RF power. As ICP power and rf power increased, the etch rate of BLT increased. As pressure increased, the etch rate of BLT decreased. The changes of radicals in both $Cl_2$/Ar and $BCl_3/Cl_2$/Ar plasma were measured with using optical emission spectroscopy (OES).

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2004

Dry etch characteristics of polysilicon with HBr/O$_2$ inductively coupled plasma (ICP) have been investigated. We determined etch late, uniformity, etch profiles, and selectivity with analyzing the cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy images obtained from top, center, bottom, right, and left positions. The etch rate of polysilicon was about 2500 $\AA$/min, which meets with the mass production for devices. The wafer level etch uniformity was within $\pm$5 ％. Etch profile showed 90$^{\circ}$ slopes without notches. The selectivity over photoresist was between 2:1∼4.5:1, depending on $O_2$ flow rate. The HBr-ICP etching showed higher PR selectivity, and sharper profile than the conventional Cl$_2$-RIE.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.10
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• pp.124-131
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• 2013

The most important thing in Plasma simulation is the etching process in which etch rate is calculated based on feature profile. Although there are various components to consider in calculating etch rate such as Ion Flux, Neutral, gas, and temperature, Addressing of this paper is limited to Ion Flux. This paper propose a scan method to compute Ion Flux faster for Plasma simulation. Also, this paper experiments and compares generally used Monte Carlo method and the proposed method based on gaussian and cosine distribution. Lastly, this paper proves that the proposed method can calculate accurate Ion Flux more efficiently than Monte Carlo method.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.701-707
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• 2004

High aspect ratio silicon structure through deep silicon etching process have become indispensable for advanced MEMS applications. In this paper, we present the results of modified Bosch process to obtain anisotropic silicon structure with conventional Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) etcher instead of the expensive Bosch process systems. In modified Bosch process, etching step ($SFsub6$) / sidewall passivation ($Csub4Fsub8$) step time is much longer than commercialized Bosch scheme and process transition time is introduced between process steps to improve gas switching and RF power delivery efficiency. To optimize process parameters, etching ($SFsub6$) / sidewall passivation ($Csub4Fsub8$) time and ion energy effects on etching profile was investigated. Etch profile strongly depends on the period of etch / passivation and ion energy. Furthermore, substrate temperature during etching process was found to be an important parameter determining etching profile. Test structures with different pattern size have been etched for the comparison of the aspect ratio dependent etch rate and the formation of silicon grass. At optimized process condition, micropatterns etched with modified Bosch process showed nearly vertical sidewall and no silicon grass formation with etch rate of 1.2 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$/ min and the size of scallop of 250 nm.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.12-15
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• 2013

In this study, we carried out an investigation of the etching characteristics (etch rate, and selectivity to $SiO_2$) of $ZrO_2$ thin films in a $CF_4$/Ar inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system. The maximum etch rate of 60.8 nm/min for $ZrO_2$ thin films was obtained at a 20 % $CF_4/(CF_4+Ar)$ gas mixing ratio. At the same time, the etch rate was measured as a function of the etching parameter, namely ICP chamber pressure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed efficient destruction of the oxide bonds by the ion bombardment, as well as 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 characteristics for the $CF_4$-containing plasmas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.183-186
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• 2004

The dry etch behavior of PZT thin films was investigated in $BCl_3/N_2$ plasma. The experiments were carried out with measuring etch rates and selectivities of PZT to $SiO_2$ as a function of gas concentration and input rf power, chamber pressure. The maximum etch rate was 126 nm/min when 30% $N_2$ was added to $BCl_3$ chemistry. Also, as input rf power increases, the etch rate of PZT thin films was increased. Langmuir probe measurement showed the noticeable influence of $BCl_3/N_2$ mixing ratio on electron temperature and electron density as input rf power increased. The variation of Cl radical density as plasma parameters changed was examined by Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) analysis. According to X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, PZT thin films were damaged in plasma and an increase in (100), (200) and (111) phases showed the improvement in structure of the PZT thin films after the $O_2$ annealing process.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.63-67
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• 2001

Up to now, most studies about Pt-etching have been focused on physical sputtering mechanism with Cl-based plasma, while only a limited results are available for etching characteristics with fluorine-based plasma. In this study, etch characteristics of Pt thin film with $Cl_2$/Ar and $SF_{6}$/Ar Ar gas chemistries have been studied with ECR plasma etching system. It is confirmed that $SF_{6}$/Ar Ar plasma chemistry could make volatile etch-products through the reaction with Pt thin film. Also the improvement in etch rate, etch profile and surface roughness is obtained due to the formation of volatile platinum fluoride compounds.

• Proceedings of the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.87-96
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• 2000

The properties of polyimide for interlayer dielectric applications are investigated during plasma etching of aluminum on it. Chlorine-based plasma generally used for aluminum etching results in an increase in the (dielectric constant of polyimide, while $SF_6$ plasma exhibits a high polyimide etch rate and a reducing effect of the dielectric constant. The leakage current of polyimide is significantly suppressed after plasma exposure. An optimal combination of Al etch with $Cl_6$ plasma and polyimide etch with $SF_6$ plasma is expected to be a good tool for realizing multilevel metallization structures.