• Transactions of Materials Processing
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.290-295
• /
• 2004

Mircolens and microlens V-groove are realized using a novel fabrication technology based on the exposure of a resist, usually PMMA, to deep X-rays and subsequent thermal treatment and inclined deep X-ray lithography, respectively. The fabrication technology is very simple and produces microlenses and microlens V-groove with good surface roughness of several nm. The molecular weight and glass transition temperature of PMMA is reduced when it is irradiated with deep X-rays. The microlenses were produced through the effects of volume change, surface tension, and reflow during thermal treatment of irradiated PMMA. Microlenses were produced with diameters ranging from 30 to $1500\mu\textrm{m}$. The surface X-ray mask is also fabricated to realize microlens arrays on PMMA sheet with a large area. The size of the micro V-groove is fabricated in the range of 12~$60\mu\textrm{m}$.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.26 no.10
• /
• pp.2187-2193
• /
• 2002

We present a novel method for 3D microfabrication with LIGA process that utilizes a deep X-ray mask in which a micro-actuator is integrated. The integrated micro-actuator oscillates the X-ray absorber, which is formed on the shuttle mass of the micro-actuator, during X-ray exposures to modify the absorbed dose profile in X-ray resist, typically PMMA. 3D PMMA microstructures according to the modulated dose contour are revealed after GG development. An X-ray mask with integrated comb drive actuator is fabricated using deep reactive ion etching, absorber electroplating, and bulk micromachining with silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. 1mm $\times$ 1 mm, 20 $\mu$m thick silicon shuttle mass as a mask blank is supported by four 1 mm long suspension beams and is driven by the comb electrodes. A 10 $\mu$m thick, 50 $\mu$m line and spaced gold absorber pattern is electroplated on the shuttle mass before the release step. The fundamental frequency and amplitude are around 3.6 kHz and 20 $\mu$m, respectively, for a do bias of 100 V and an ac bias of 20 $V_{p-p}$ (peak-peak). Fabricated PMMA microstructure shows 15.4 $\mu$m deep, S-shaped cross section in the case of 1.6 kJ $cm^{-3}$ surface dose and GG development at 35$^{\circ}C$ for 40 minutes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2003.06a
• /
• pp.228-232
• /
• 2003

Mircolens and microlens arrays are realized using a novel fabrication technology based on the exposure of a resist, usually PMMA, to deep X-rays and subsequent thermal treatment. Hot embossing process is also studied for mass production. The fabrication technology is very simple and produces microlenses and microlens arrays with good surface roughness of several nm. The molecular weight and glass transition temperature of PMMA is reduced when it is irradiated with deep X-rays. The microlenses were produced through the effects of volume change, surface tension. and reflow during thermal treatment of irradiated PMMA. A hot embossing machine is designed and manufactured with a servo motor transfer system. The hot embossing process follows the steps of heating mold to the desired temperature, embossing a mold insert on substrate. cooling mold to the de-embossing temperature. and de-embossing. Microlenses were produced with diameters ranging from 30 to 1500 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. The surface X-ray mask is also fabricated to realize microlens arrays on PMMA sheet with a large area.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.208-213
• /
• 2018

Epitaxial ($11{\bar{2}}0$) a-plane GaN films were grown on a ($1{\bar{1}}02$) R-plane sapphire substrate with photoresist (PR) masks using metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The PR mask with striped patterns was prepared using an ex-situ lithography process, whereas carbonization and heat treatment of the PR mask were carried out using an in-situ MOCVD. The heat treatment of the PR mask was continuously conducted in ambient $H_2/NH_3$ mixture gas at $1140^{\circ}C$ after carbonization by the pyrolysis in ambient $H_2$ at $1100^{\circ}C$. As the time of the heat treatment progressed, the striped patterns of the carbonized PR mask shrank. The heat treatment of the carbonized PR mask facilitated epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELO) of a-plane GaN films without carbon contamination on the R-plane sapphire substrate. Thhe surface morphology of a-plane GaN films was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The structural characteristics of a-plane GaN films on an R-plane sapphire substrate were evaluated by ${\omega}-2{\theta}$ high-resolution X-ray diffraction. The a-plane GaN films were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to determine carbon contamination from carbonized PR masks in the GaN film bulk. After $Ar^+$ ion etching, XPS spectra indicated that carbon contamination exists only in the surface region. Finally, the heat treatment of carbonized PR masks was used to grow high-quality a-plane GaN films without carbon contamination. This approach showed the promising potential of the ELO process by using a PR mask.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.1-6
• /
• 2000

X-ray lithography mask with SiC membrane and Ta absorber patterns has been fabricated using ECR plasma CVD, d.c. magnetron sputtering, and ECR plasma etching. The stress of stoichiometric SiC film was adjusted by rapid thermal annealing under $N_2$, ambient. Adjusting the working pressure during sputtering process resulted in a near-zero residual stress, reasonable density, and smooth surface morphology of Ta film. Cl-based plasma showed a good etching characteristics of Ta, and two-step etching process was implemented to suppress microloading effect fur sub-quarter $\mu\textrm{m}$ patterning.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.126-130
• /
• 2021

The ball grid array is one of the packaging methods that used in high density printed circuit board. Solder void defects caused by voids in the solder ball during the BGA process do not directly affect the reliability of the product, but it may accelerate the aging of the device on the PCB layer or interface surface depending on its size or location. Void inspection is important because it is related in yields with products. The most important process in the optical inspection of solder void is the segmentation process of solder and void. However, there are several segmentation algorithms for the vision inspection, it is impossible to inspect all of images ideally. When X-Ray images with poor contrast and high level of noise become difficult to perform image processing for vision inspection in terms of software programming. This paper suggests the solution to deal with the suggested problem by means of using Mask R-CNN instead of digital image processing algorithm. Mask R-CNN model can be trained with images pre-processed to increase contrast or alleviate noises. With this process, it provides more efficient system about complex object segmentation than conventional system.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.44-47
• /
• 2019

Amorphous carbon layer (ACL) is actively used as an etch mask. Recent advances in patterning ACL requires the next level of durability of hard mask in high aspect ratio etch in near future semiconductor manufacturing, and it is worthwhile to know the surface property of ACL thin film to enhance the property of etch hard mask. In this research, ACL are deposited by 6 inch plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system with $C_3H_6$ and $N_2$ gas mixture. Surface properties of deposited ACL are investigated depending on gas flow, pressure, RF power. Fourier transform infrared is used for the analysis of surface chemistry, and X-ray photoemission spectra is used for the structural analysis with the consideration of the contents of $sp^2$ and $sp^3$ through fitting of C1s. Also mechanical properties of deposited ACL are measured in order to evaluate hardness.

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

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.869-875
• /
• 1996

In this article the effects of process parameters of inductively coupled plasma etching with $SF_6$ /$N_2$/Ar mixture gas and mask materials on the etched profile of W were investigated. While the etched profile was improved by $N_2$-addition, low working presure, and reduced $SF_6$ flow rate, the etching selectity (W against SAL resist) was decreased. Due to the difficulty of W etching with single layer resist, sputter deposited $Al_2O_3$ film was used as a hardmask. Reduction of required EB resist thickness through $Al_2O_3$ mask application could reduce proximity effect during e-beam patterning, but the etch anisotropy was degraded by decreased sidewall passiviation effect.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2008.11a
• /
• pp.102-102
• /
• 2008

Sapphire (${\alpha}-Al_2O_3$) has been used as the substrate of opto-electronic device because of characteristics of thermal stability, comparatively low cost, large diameter, optical transparency and chemical compatibility. However, there is difficulty in the etching and patterning due to the physical stability of sapphire and the selectivity with sapphire and mask materials [1,2]. Therefore, sapphire has been studied on the various fields and need to be studied, continuously. In this study, the etching properties of sapphire substrate were investigated with various $CH_4$/Ar gas combination, radio frequency (RF) power, DC-bias voltage and process pressure. The characteristics of the plasma were estimated for mechanism using optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The chemical compounds on the surface of sapphire substrate were investigated using energy dispersive X-ray (EDX). The chemical reaction on the surface of the etched sapphire substrate was observed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the vertical and slope profiles.