• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.268-271
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• 2005

Etch resistance of mask layer on silicon substrate modified by AFM-based Tribo-Nanolithography (TNL) in Aqueous Solution in an aqueous solution was demonstrated. n consists or sequential processes, nano-scratching and wet chemical etching. The simple scratching can form a mask layer on the silicon substrate, which acting as an etching mask. For TNL, a specially designed cantilever with diamond tip, allowing the formation of mask layer on silicon substrate easily by a simple scratching process, has been applied instead of conventional silicon cantilever fur scanning. This study demonstrates how the TNL parameters can affect the etch resistance of mask layer, hence introducing a new process of AFM-based maskless nanolithography in aqueous solution.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.07a
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• pp.146-149
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• 2004

Porous silicon(PS) as an excellent light diffuser can be used as an antireflection layer without other antireflection coating(ARC) materials. PS layers were obtained by electrochemical etching(ECE) anodization of silicon wafers in hydrofluoric acid/ethanol/de-ionized(DI) water solution($HF/EtOH/H_2O$). This technique is based on the selective removal of Si atoms from the sample surface forming a layer of PS with adjustable optical, electrical, and mechanical properties. A PS layer with optimal ARC characteristics was obtained in charge density (Q) of 5.2 $C/cm^2$. The weighted reflectance is reduced from 33 % to 4 % in the wavelength between 400 and 1000 nm. The weighted reflectance with optimized PS layers is much less than that obtained with a commercial SiNx ARC on a potassium hydroxide(KOH) pre-textured multi-crystalline silicon(mc-Si) surface.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.38.1-38.1
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• 2009

Plasma etching is an essential process for electronic device industries and the particulate contamination during plasma etching has been interested as a big issue for the yield of productivity. The oxynitride glasses have a merit to prevent particulate contamination due to their amorphous structure and plasma etching resistance. The YSiAlON oxynitride glasses with increasing nitrogen content were manufactured. Each oxynitride glasses were fluorine-plasma etched and their plasma etching rate and surface roughness were compared with reference materials such as sapphire, alumina and quartz. The reinforcement mechanism of plasma etching resistance of the YSiAlON glasses studied by depth profiling at plasma etched surface using electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis. The plasma etching rate decreased with nitrogen content and there was no selective etching at the plasma etched surface of the oxynitride glasses. The concentration of silicon was very low due to the generation of SiF4 very volatile byproduct and the concentration of aluminum and yttrium was relatively constant. The elimination of silicon atoms during plasma etching was reduced with increasing nitrogen content because the content of the nitrogen was constant. And besides, the concentration of oxygen was very low on the plasma etched surface. From the study, the plasma etching resistance of the glasses may be improved by the generation of nitrogen related structural groups and those are proved by chemical composition analysis at plasma etched surface of the YSiAlON oxynitride glasses.

• Proceedings of the Korean Ceranic Society Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.203.2-203
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• 2000

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.10-14
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• 2021

Wet etching is more economical than dry etching and provides a uniform etching depth regardless of wafer sizes. Typically, potassium hydroxide (KOH) and tetra-methyl-ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) solutions are widely used for the wet etching of silicon. However, there is a limit to the wet etching process when a material deposited on an unetched surface reacts with an etching solution. To solve this problem, in this study, an apparatus was designed and manufactured to physically block the inflow of etchants on the surface using a rubber O-ring. The proposed apparatus includes a heater and a temperature controller to maintain a constant temperature during etching, and the hydrostatic pressure of the etchant is considered for the thin film structure. A corrugation membrane with a diameter of 800 ㎛, thickness of 600 nm, and corrugation depth of 3 ㎛ with two corrugations was successfully fabricated using the prepared device.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.88.1-88.1
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• 2012

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs), due to their unusual quantum-confinement effects that lead to superior electrical and optical properties compared to those of the bulk silicon, have been widely researched as a potential building block in a variety of novel electronic devices. The conventional means for the synthesis of SiNWs has been the vapor-liquid-solid method using chemical vapor deposition; however, this method is time consuming, environmentally unfriendly, and do not support vertical growth. As an alternate, the electroless etching method has been proposed, which uses metal catalysts contained in aqueous hydrofluoric acids (HF) for vertically etching the bulk silicon substrate. This new method can support large-area growth in a short time, and vertically aligned SiNWs with high aspect ratio can be readily synthesized with excellent reproducibility. Nonetheless, there still are rooms for improvement such as the poor surface characteristics that lead to degradation in electrical performance, and non-uniformity of the diameter and shapes of the synthesized SiNWs. Here, we report a facile method of SiNWs synthesis having uniform sizes, diameters, and shapes, which may be other than just cylindrical shapes using a modified nanosphere lithography technique. The diameters of the polystyrene nanospheres can be adjustable through varying the time of O2 plasma treatment, which serve as a mask template for metal deposition on a silicon substrate. After the removal of the nanospheres, SiNWs having the exact same shape as the mask are synthesized using wet etching technique in a solution of HF, hydrogen peroxide, and deionized water. Different electrical and optical characteristics were obtained according to the shapes and sizes of the SiNWs, which implies that they can serve specific purposes according to their types.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.07a
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• pp.279-282
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• 2001

The IBE(ion beam etching)-induced Schottky barrier variation which depends on various etching history related with ion energy, incident angle and etching time has been investigated using voltage-current, capacitance-voltage characteristics of metal-etched silicon contact and morphology of etched surface were studied using AFM(atomic force microscope). For ion beam etched n-type silicons, Schottky barrier is reduced according to ion beam energy. It can be seen that amount of donor-like positive charge created in the damaged layer is proportional to the ion energy. By contrary, for ion beam etched p-type silicons, the Schottky barrier and specific contact resistance are both increased. Not only etching time but also incident angle of ion beam has an effect on barrier height. Taping-mode AFM analysis shows increased roughness RMS(Root-Mean-Square) and depth distribution due to ion bombardment. Annealing in an N$_2$ ambient for 30 min was found to be effective in improving the diode characteristics of the etched samples and minimum annealing temperatures to recover IBE-induced barrier variation were related to ion beam energy.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.261-268
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• 1999

Laser-induced thermochemical etching has been recognized as a new powerful method for processing a variety of materials, including metals, semiconductors, ceramics, insulators and polymers. This study presents characteristics of direct etching for Si substrate using focused argon ion laser beam in aqueous KOH and $CCl_2F_2$ gas. In order to determine process conditions, we first theoretically investigated the temperature characteristics induced by a CW laser beam with a gaussian intensity distribution on a silicon surface. Major process parameters are laser beam power, beam scan speed and reaction material. We have achieved a very high etch rate up to $434.7\mum/sec$ and a high aspect ratio of about 6. Potential applications of this laser beam etching include prototyping of micro-structures of MEMS(micro electro mechanical systems), repair of devices, and isolation of opto-electric devices.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.69-72
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• 2013

Combined nano- and micro-wires (CNMWs) Si arrays were prepared using PR patterning and silver-assisted electroless etching. A $POCl_3$ doping process was applied to the fabrication of CNMWs solar cells. KOH solution was used to remove bundles in CNMWs and the etching time was varied from 30 to 240 s. The lowest reflectance of 3.83% was obtained at KOH etching time of 30 s, but the highest carrier lifetime of $354{\mu}s$ was observed after the doping process at 60 s. At the same etching time, a $V_{oc}$ of 574 mV, $J_{sc}$ of $28.41mA/cm^2$, FF of 74.4%, and Eff. of 12.2% were achieved in the CNMWs solar cell. CNMWs solar cells have potential for higher efficiency by improving the post-process and surface-rear side structure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.62-67
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• 2016

This paper presents a silicon nanostructure array embedded in a polymer film. The silicon nanostructure array was fabricated by using basic microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) processes such as photolithography, reactive ion etching, and anisotropic KOH wet etching. The fabricated silicon nanostructure array was transferred into polymer substrates such as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polycarbonate (PC) through the hot-embossing process. In order to determine the transfer conditions under which the silicon nanostructures do not fracture, hot-embossing experiments were performed at various temperatures, pressures, and pressing times. Transfer was successfully achieved with a pressure of 1 MPa and a temperature higher than the transition temperature for the three types of polymer substrates. The transferred silicon nanostructure array was electrically evaluated through measurements with a semiconductor parameter analyzer (SPA).