• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2002.07c
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• pp.2008-2010
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• 2002

Process conditions of a novel negative thick photoresist, JSR THB-$430N^{(R)}$, are established in this paper. Although SU-8 obtains uniform and high-aspect-ratio structures, it is hard to remove the SU-8 mold after electroplating. The JSR THB-$430N^{(R)}$ can be more easily removed than the SU-8 and has a low internal stress. Introducing two step strip processes using acetone and the jSR THB-$S1^{(R)}$, the JSR THB-$430N^{(R)}$ electroplating mold was removed completely and a JSR THB-$430N^{(R)}$ film stress is compressive less than 2 MPa. In this paper, we obatined $200{\mu}m$ thick PR structure and $100{\mu}m$ thick electroplated nickel structure using the JSR THB-$430N^{(R)}$ photoresist.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.655-656
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• 2007

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.437-438
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• 2010

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.07g
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• pp.2541-2543
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• 1998

This paper describes the fabrication process to fabricate metallic structure of high aspect ratio using LlGA-like process. SU-8 is used as an electroplating mold. SU-8 is an epoxy-based photoresist, designed for ultrathick PR structure with single layer coating [1,2]. We can get more than $100{\mu}m$ thick layer by single coating with conventional spin coater, and applying multiple coating can make thicker layers. In the experiments, we used different kinds of SU-8, having different viscosity. To optimize the conditions for mold fabrication process, experiments are performed varying spinning time and speed, soft-bake, develop and PEB (Post Expose Bake) condition. With the optimized condition, minimum line and space of $3{\mu}m$ pattern with a thickness of $40{\mu}m$ and $4{\mu}m$ pattern with a thickness of $130{\mu}m$ were obtained. Using the patterned PR as a plating mold, metallic structure was fabricated by electroplating. We have fabricated a electroplated nickel comb actuator using SU-8 as plating mold. The thickness of PR mold is $45{\mu}m$ and that of plated nickel is$40{\mu}m$. Minimum line of the mold is $5{\mu}m$. Patterned metallic layer or polymer layer, which has selectivity with the structural plated metallic layer, can be used as sacrificial layer for fabrication of free-standing structure.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.135-139
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• 2005

In this paper, negative SU-8 photoresist processed at low temperature is characterized in terms of delamination. Based on a $3^3$ factorial designed experiment, 27 samples are fabricated, and the degree of delamination is measured for each. In addition, nine samples are fabricated for the purpose of verification. Employing the. neural network modeling technique, a process model is established, and response surfaces are generated to investigate degree of delamination associated with three process parameters: post exposure bake (PEB) temperature, PEB time, and exposure energy. From the response surfaces generated, two significant parameters associated with delamination are identified, and their effects on delamination are analyzed. Higher PEB temperature at a fixed PEB time results in a greater degree of delamination. In addition, a higher dose of exposure energy lowers the temperature at which the delamination begins and also results in a larger degree of delamination. These results identify acceptable ranges of the three process variables to avoid delamination of SU-8 film, which in turn might lead to potential defects in MEMS device fabrication.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.268-270
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• 2004

This paper reports a novel masking method with various mask materials for wet etching of glass. Various mask materials such as Cr/Au, Ti/Au, Polyimide and thick SU-8 photoresist were investigated for borosilicate glass (Borofloat33) etching in concentrated hydrofluoric acid (48% HF). Polyimide and thick SU-8 photoresist are not suitable as masking material due to its poor adhesion to glass surfaces. Titanium has good adhesion is suitable as the first layer to make multi-protective layers. The best protection was obtained with a combination of Ti/Au, polyimide and Ti/Au as masking material with etch depth of $350{\mu}m$ achieved.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2004

3D microstructures with different side-wall angles and different scales are fabricated by both methods of inclined exposure and rear-side exposure at each of selected areas on a same substrate. Conventional methods of inclined exposure are used to make side-walls with a same inclined angle on one substrate and to get a scale error due to front-side exposure through thick photoresist layer, But, by using the proposed method, we are able to fabricate 3D microstructures on a same substrate with various side-wall angles and accurate dimensions as the original design. In the rear-side exposure, UV exposure light reflects from the chromium mask pattern after passing through the thick photoresist layer, resulting in fabrication of well-defined, inclined 3D structures inside the thick photoresist layer.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.55 no.12
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• pp.591-596
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• 2006

we have been developed on the ultra high concentration ozone generator system which is the core technology in the realization of the semiconductor photoresist strip process using the ozone-vapor chemistry. The proposed ozone generator system has the structure of the surface discharge type which adopt the high purity ceramic dielectric tube. We investigate the performance of the proposed ozone generator system experimentally and the results show that the system has very high ozone concentration characteristics of $19.7[wt%/O_2]$ at the flow rate of $0.3[{\ell}/min]$ of each discharge cell. As a result of the silicon wafer photoresist strip test, we obtained the strip rate of about 400[nm/min] at the ozone concentration of $16[wt%/O_2]$ and flow rate of $8[{\ell}/min]$. So, we confirmed that it's possible to use the proposed high concentration ozone generator system for the ozone-vapor photoresist strip process in the semiconductor and FPD industry.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.282-287
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• 2017

SU-8 is an epoxy-type photoresist widely used for the fabrication of high-aspect-ratio (HAR) micro-structures in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). To fabricate highly integrated structures, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) has emerged as the preferred manufacturing process for planarizing the MEMS structure. In SU-8 CMP, an oxidizer decomposes organic impurities and particles in the CMP slurry remove the chemically reacted surface of SU-8. To fabricate HAR microstructures using the CMP process, the adhesion between SU-8 and substrate material is important to avoid the delamination of the SU-8 film caused by the mechanical-dominant material removal characteristic. In this study, the friction force during the CMP process is measured with a CMP monitoring system to detect the delamination phenomenon and investigate the delamination of the SU-8 film from the silicon substrate under various pressure conditions. The increase in applied pressure causes an increase in the frictional force and wafer-edge stress concentration. The frictional force measurement shows that the friction force changes according to the delamination phenomenon of the SU-8 film, and that it is possible to monitor the delamination phenomenon during the SU-8 CMP process. The delamination at a high applied pressure is explained by the effect of stress distribution and pad deformation. Consequently, it is necessary to control the pressure of polishing, which can avoid the delamination in SU-8 CMP.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.48 no.8
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• pp.598-604
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• 1999

This paper describes the research to minimize the film stress and maximize the aspect ratio of photoresist structure, especially about SU-8 for electroplating mold. UV LIGA process using SU-8 allows fabricating high aspect ratio polymer structures. However, it is hard to get fine patterns in the high aspect ratio structures because of high internal stress and difficulty of removing SU-8. The purpose of this paper is to setup the process condition for the obtainment of both low film stress and high aspect ratio and to find design rules that make the pattern be less dependent on stress problem. Firstly, the process of heat treatment and exposure of SU-8 are proposed. These two conditions control the amount of cross-linkage in polymer structure, which is the most important parameter of both pattern generation and remaining stress. Heat treatment is dealed with soft bake and post-exposure-bake. Temperature and time duration of each step are varied with heat treatment condition. Some test patterns are fabricated to evaluate the proposed process. Nickel electroplating is performed with the mold fabricated through the proposed process to confirm the SU-8 as a good electroplating mold.