• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.213-217
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• 2013

As commercial atomic force microscopy (AFM) probes made of Si and $Si_3N_4$ have low stiffness, it is difficult to induce sufficient elastic deformation on the surface of a specimen in a tapping mode. Therefore, high-guality phase contrast images can not obtained. On the other hand, a tungsten AFM probe has relatively higher stiffness than a commercial AFM probe. Accordingly, it is expected to provide an enhanced phase contrast image, which is an effective tool for achieving a better understanding of the micromechanical properties of worn surfaces and wear mechanisms. In this study, on electrochemical etching method was optimized to fabricate tungsten probe tips for an AFM. Electrochemical etching was performed by applying pulse waves with a 20% duty cycle at various voltages instead of only a DC voltage, which has been commonly used.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.284-284
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• 2011

Recently, the increasing degree of device integration in the fabrication of Si semiconductor devices, etching processes of nano-scale materials and high aspect-ratio (HAR) structures become more important. Due to this reason, etch selectivity control during etching of HAR contact holes and trenches is very important. In this study, The etch selectivity and etch rate of TEOS oxide layer using ACL (amorphous carbon layer) mask are investigated various process parameters in CH2F2/C4F8/O2/Ar plasma during etching TEOS oxide layer using ArF/BARC/SiOx/ACL multilevel resist (MLR) structures. The deformation and etch characteristics of TEOS oxide layer using ACL hard mask was investigated in a dual-frequency superimposed capacitively coupled plasma (DFS-CCP) etcher by different fHF/ fLF combinations by varying the CH2F2/ C4F8 gas flow ratio plasmas. The etch characteristics were measured by on scanning electron microscopy (SEM) And X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). A process window for very high selective etching of TEOS oxide using ACL mask could be determined by controlling the process parameters and in turn degree of polymerization. Mechanisms for high etch selectivity will discussed in detail.

• Transactions of the Society of Information Storage Systems
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.182-187
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• 2005

A large area micro mirror is an optical element that functions as changing an optical path by reflection in integrated optical system. We fabricated the large area silicon mirror by anisotropic etching using MEMS for implementation of integrated optical pickup. In this work, we report the optimum conditions to better fabricate and design, greatly improve mirror surface quality. To obtain mirror surface of $45^{\circ},\;9.74^{\circ}$ off-axis silicon wafer from (100) plane was used in etching condition of $80^{\circ}C$ with 40wt.% KOH solution. After wet etching, polishing process by MR fluid was applied to mirror surface for reduction of roughness. In the next step, after polymer coating on the polished Si wafer, the Si mirror was fabricated by UV curing using a trapezoid bar-type way structure. Finally, we obtained peak to valley roughness about 50 nm in large area of $mm^2$ and it is applicable to optical pickup using blu-ray wavelength as well as infrared wavelength.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1998.07g
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• pp.2515-2517
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• 1998

The micro fresnel lens(MFL) was modeled and fabricated on a XY-stage electrostatically driven by comb actuator. The modeled MFL was approximated as a step shape with 4-phase and 4-zone plate. The focal length and diameter of the MFL is 20mm and 912${\mu}m$, respectively. The XY-stage suspending the MFL is designed to generate a large static displacement up to about 20${\mu}m$. On SOI substrates, we first fabricated MFL using the RIE(reactive Ion etching) technology and then patterned and etched bulk silicon to make XY-stage. After the fabrication of all structures on top side of the SOI substrates. $Si_3N_4$ was deposited for passivation of all structures using PECVD(plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition). All the MFL systems width comb drive actuator were released by KOH etching from the bottom side of the SOI wafer using double-sided alignment technique. In fabrication of MFL, a dry etching conditions is established in order to improve surface roughness and to control the etched depth.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.468-470
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• 1999

One of the most critical problem in etching of platinum was generally known that the etch slope was gradual. therefore, the addition of $N_2$ gas into the Ar/C1$_2$ gas mixture, which has been proposed the optimized etching gas combination for etching of platinum in our previous article, was performed. The selectivity of platinum film to oxide film as an etch mask increased with the addition of N2 gas, and the steeper etch slope over 75 $^{\circ}$ could be obtained. These phenomena were interpreted the results the results of a blocking layer such as Si-N or Si-O-N on the oxide mask. Compostional analysis was carried out by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Moreover, it could be obtained the higher etch rate of Pt film and steeper profile without residues such as p.-Cl and Pt-Pt ant the addition N\ulcorner of 20 % gas in Ar(90)/Cl$_2$(10) Plasma. The Plasma characteristic was extracted from optical emissionspectroscopy (OES).

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.188-189
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• 2007

The etching characteristics of $Al_2O_3$ films using the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) was investigated. The etch gas was the mixture of $BCl_3$ and He. The effect of ICP source and bias powers on etch rate and etch selectivity to polycrystalline Si was investigated in the etch process of $Al_2O_3$. The etch rate of $Al_2O_3$ film was 23nm/min when the source power and bias power were 600W and 60W, respectively. The results also indicated that the etch selectivity to polycrystalline Si could not be enhanced to be higher than 1.0 by changing the ICP source power and bias power, under the experimental conditions used in the present work. Based on plasma parameters extracted from Langmuir probe data, the etching mechanism of $Al_2O_3$ film was discussed in detail.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.12 no.7
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• pp.640-646
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• 2003

The nanoprobe based on lithography, mainly represented by SPM based technologies, has been recognized as potential application to fabricate the surface nanostructures because of its operational versatility and simplicity. The objective of the work is to suggest new mastless pattern fabrication technique using the combination of machining by nanoindenter and KOH wet etching. The scratch option of the nanoindenter is a very promising method for obtaining nanometer scale features on a large size specimen because it has a very wide working area and load range. Sample line patterns were machined on a silicon surface, which has a native oxide on it, by constant load scratch (CLS) of the Nanoindenter with a Berkovich diamond tip, and they were etched in KOH solutions to investigate chemical characteristics of the machined silicon surface. After the etching process, the convex structure was made because of masking effect of the affected layer generated by nano-scratch. On the basis of this fact, some line patterns with convex structures were fabricated. Achieved patterns can be used as a mold that will be used for mass production processes such as nanoimprint or PDMS molding process. All morphological data of scratch traces were scanned using atomic force microscope (AFM).

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.7-12
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• 2023

The edge ring placed on the outside of the electrostatic chuck (ESC) is a key component for protecting the ESC and controlling the etching uniformity of the edge of the wafer. Therefore, it is very important to understand the etching phenomenon of edge rings for edge ring management and equipment homeostasis. In this study, a specimen with SiO₂ hard mask and underlying Si mold was installed on the edge ring surface and the etching results were measured by varying the edge ring 2MHz RF power. By developing PI-VM model with high prediction accuracy and analyzing the roles of key parameters in the model, we were able to evaluate the effect of plasma and sheath characteristics around the edge ring on edge ring erosion. This analysis method provided information necessary for edge ring maintenance and operation.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.3 s.274
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• pp.178-181
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• 2005

Silicon oxynitride (SiON) layers deposited upon a $SiO_2/Si$ buffer layer placed upon silicon wafers have been obtained by using PECVD from $SiH_4,\;N_2O$, and $N_2$. It can be seen that the refractive index, measured by using a prism coupler, for the SiON films can be varied between 1.4480 and 1.4958 at a wavelength of 1552 nm by changing the process parameters. Optical planar waveguides with a thickness of $6{\mu}m$ and a refractive index contrast ($\Delta$n) of $0.36\% have been deposited. Also, etching experiments were performed using ICP dry etching equipment on thick SiON films grown onto Si substrates covered by a thick $SiO_2$ buffer layer. A polarization maintaining single-mode fiber was used for the input and a microscope objective for the output at $1.55{\mu}m$. As a result, a low index contrast SiON based waveguide is fabricated with easily adjustable refractive index of core layer. It illustrates that the output intensity mode is a waveguiding single-mode.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.98-103
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• 2016

The dry etching characteristics of SnO thin films were investigated using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) in Ar, $CF_4$, $Cl_2$ chemistries. the SnO thin films were deposited by reactive rf magnetron sputtering with Sn metal target. In order to study the etching rates of SnO, the processing factors of processing pressure, source power, bias power, and etching gas were controlled. The etching behavior of SnO films under various conditions was obtained and discussed by comparing to that of $SiO_2$ films. In our results, the etch rate of SnO film was obtained as 94nm/min. The etch rates were mainly affected by physical etching and the contribution of chemical etching to SnO films appeared relatively week.