• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.327-333
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• 1993

The effect of heat treatment on the adhesion between Cu-18wt% Cr film and polyimide has been studied by using T-peel test, AES, and XRD. Cu-18wt% Cr alloy and pure Cu films were sputter deposited onto pol-yimide. Cu was electroplated before and after heat treatment at $400^{\circ}C$ for 0.5 hr and 2 hrs respectively. The adhesion of metal film onto polyimide was considerably good before heat treatment, but heat treatment re-duced the peel adhesion strength in all specimens. The reduction in adhesion in adhesion strength values in the specimens which were plated after heat treatment was mainly due to Cr-O rich pahse formed in the metal/polyimide in-terface. In the specimens which were heat treated after plating, the enhanced ductility in the metal films con-tributes the peel adhesion strength by increasing the amount of deformation in metal strips.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.343-350
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• 2020

The degradation of mechanical properties of nitride coatings to steel substrates is one of the main challenges for industrial applications. In this study, plasma nitriding treatment was used in order to increase the mechanical properties of Mo-Cu-N coating to the H13 tool steel. The nanostructured Mo-Cu-N coating was deposited using pulsed DC magnetron sputtering method with a single alloy Mo-Cu target. Mechanical properties of MoN-Cu coated samples after nitriding were found to be relatively better than non-nitrided MoN-Cu coating.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.186-193
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• 2014

A thin Cu seed layer for electroplating has been employed for decades in the miniaturization and integration of printed circuit board (PCB), however many problems are still caused by the thin Cu seed layer, e.g., open circuit faults in PCB, dimple defects, low conductivity, and etc. Here, we studied the effect of heat treatment of the thin Cu seed layer on the deposition rate of electroplated Cu. We investigated the heat-treatment effect on the crystallite size, morphology, electrical properties, and electrodeposition thickness by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscope (AFM), four point probe (FPP), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) measurements, respectively. The results showed that post heat treatment of the thin Cu seed layer could improve surface roughness as well as electrical conductivity. Moreover, the deposition rate of electroplated Cu was improved about 148% by heat treatment of the Cu seed layer, indicating that the enhanced electrical conductivity and surface roughness accelerated the formation of Cu nuclei during electroplating. We also confirmed that the electrodeposition rate in the via filling process was also accelerated by heat-treating the Cu seed layer.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.261-272
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• 1994

Both Cu-Cr and Cu-Ti alloy films with different composition were prepared by dc magnetron sputtering onto polyimide substrate and their adhesion and microstructure were observed. In addition, the effect of heat treatment at $400^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours on the variation of adhesion properties and on the changess of microstructure were investigated. Cu-Cr alloy films have crystalline structure of either for or bcc phase depending on the composition of the film. However, the Cu-Ti alloy film forms fcc phase at low Ti concentration while it forms an amorphous phase as the Ti concentration in the films is increased to more than 25at.%. TEM analysis reveal that the microstructure of Cu-Cr and Cu-Ti films forms an open structure with vacant spaces. The adhesion between Cu-Cr, Cu-Ti alloy films and polyimide substrate is relatively good before the heat treatment, but is noticeably reduced after the heat treatment. In particular, the adhesion strength is significantly reduced in the Cu-Ti alloy films after the heat treatment. The reduction of adhesion strength after the heat treatment is identified to relate with the formation of oxide phases at the metal/polyimide interface by AES(Auger Electron Spectroscopy).

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.313-318
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• 2004

Vertically-aligned and uniformly-distributed CuO nanowires were formed on copper-coated Si substrates by wet chemical process, immersing them in a hot alkaline solution. The effects of hydrogen plasma treatment on the field emission characteristics of CuO nanowires were investigated. It was found that hydrogen plasma treatment enhanced the field emission properties of CuO nanowires by showing a decrease in turn-on voltage, and an increase in emission current density, and stability of current-voltage curves. However, the excessive hydrogen plasma treatment made the I-V curves unstable. It was confirmed by XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) analysis that hydrogen plasma treatment deoxidized CuO nanowires, thereby the work function of the nanowires decreased from 4.35 eV (CuO) to 4.1 eV (Cu). It is thought that the decrease in the work function enhanced the field emission characteristics. It is well-known that the lower the work function, the better the field emission characteristics. The results suggest that the hydrogen plasma treatment is very effective in achieving enhanced field emission properties of the CuO nanowires, and there may exist an optimal hydrogen plasma treatment condition.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.246-246
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• 2010

As the trench width in the interconnect technology decreases down to nano-scale below 50 nm, superconformal gap-filling process of Cu becomes very critical for Cu interconnect. Obtaining superconfomral gap-filling of Cu in the nano-scale trench or via hole using MOCVD is essential to control nucleation and growth of Cu. Therefore, nucleation of Cu must be suppressed near the entrance surface of the trench while Cu layer nucleates and grows at the bottom of the trench. In this study, suppression of Cu nucleation was achieved by treating the Ru barrier metal surface with capacitively coupled hydrogen plasma. Effect of hydrogen plasma pretreatment on Cu nucleation was investigated during MOCVD on atomic-layer deposited (ALD)-Ru barrier surface. It was found that the nucleation and growth of Cu was affected by hydrogen plasma treatment condition. In particular, as the plasma pretreatment time and electrode power increased, Cu nucleation was inhibited. Experimental data suggests that hydrogen atoms from the plasma was implanted onto the Ru surface, which resulted in suppression of Cu nucleation owing to prevention of adsorption of Cu precursor molecules. Due to the hydrogen plasma treatment of the trench on Ru barrier surface, the suppression of Cu nucleation near the entrance of the trenches was achieved and then led to the superconformal gap filling of the nano-scale trenches. In the case for without hydrogen plasma treatments, however, over-grown Cu covered the whole entrance of nano-scale trenches. Detailed mechanism of nucleation suppression and resulting in nano-scale superconformal gap-filling of Cu will be discussed in detail.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.625-630
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• 2009

Embedding of active devices in a printed circuit board has increasingly been adopted as a future electronic technology due to its promotion of high density, high speed and high performance. One responsible technology is to embedded active device into a dielectric substrate with a build-up process, for example a chipin-substrate (CiS) structure. In this study, desmear treatment was performed before Cu metallization on an FR-4 surface in order to improve interfacial adhesion between electroless-plated Cu and FR-4 substrate in Cu via structures in CiS systems. Surface analyses using atomic force microscopy and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy were systematically performed to understand the fundamental adhesion mechanism; results were correlated with peel strength measured by a 90o peel test. Interfacial bonding mechanism between electrolessplated Cu and FR-4 substrate seems to be dominated by a chemical bonding effect resulting from the selective activation of chemical bonding between carbon and oxygen through a rearrangement of C-C bonding rather than from a mechanical interlocking effect. In fact, desmear wet treatment could result in extensive degradation of FR-4 cohesive strength when compared to dry surface-treated Cu/FR-4 structures.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.187-195
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• 1991

Adhesion strength of electroless-plated Ni, Ni-P and Cu deposites on alumina substrate has been studied. Grain boundary spaces produced on the substrate surface by etching treatment provided anchoring sites for enhancing the adhesion strength. Adhesion strengths of Ni-P and Ni deposit were higher than that of Cu deposit, because of higher initial nucleation rates than the latter. The electroless-plated Ni-P and Ni underlayer improved the adhesion strength of the Cu deposit. In could be attributed to the enhanced adhesion between the substrate and those underlayers as well as the satisfactory adhesion between Cu deposits and those underlayers. Heat treatment was also conducted in order to enhance the adhesion strength of Cu layer. The strength was enhanced by about 19% when the treatment was conducted at $150^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours. The enhancement was attributed to relief of internal stress and release of hydrogen.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.227-232
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• 2019

Mo-N based coatings have been studied for enhancing mechanical characteristics of thin films. In the case of Mo-X-N coatings, the microstructure and mechanical properties can be affected by the addition of the third element. In this work, Mo-Cu-N coatings were successfully fabricated with varying the Cu content from 4.5 at% to 31 at% by the co-sputtering method. Thus, properties of the coatings were analyzed by EDS, SEM, XRD, AFM, nano indentation and scratch test techniques. From observed results, MoxN bonds were made in a nitrogen atmosphere and Cu elements were present at grain boundaries. In addition, coatings with the Cu content above 14 at% had a Cu3N peak in the XRD results. Thus, it is suggested that the formation of Cu3N phase affected the microstructure and mechanical properties of Mo-Cu-N coatings. Mechanical properties of Mo-Cu-N coatings were found to be relatively better at Cu content of about 12 at%.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.745-750
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• 2005

Polycarbonates are widely used as housing materials of electronic handsets. Since the polycarbonate is electrically insulating, there should be a conducting layer on the polycarbonate for EMI shielding. In this study, we sputter deposited Cu films on the polycarbonate substrates for EMI shielding. Plasma treatments of polycarbonates were used to increase the adhesion strength of the Cu film/polycarbonate interface. The surface energy of the polycarbonate was greatly increased from $30mJ/m^2 \;to\; 65mJ/m^2$ by a 200 W $O_2$ plasma treatment for 10s. It is thought that this is because of the ion bombardment. The adhesion strength of the sputter deposited Cu film to the polycarbonate was quantitatively measured by a 4 point bending tester. A moderate plasma surface treatment of the polycarbonate increased the Cu film/polycarbonate adhesion strength by $30\%$. The EMI shielding efficiency of the sputter deposited $10{\mu}m$ Cu lam on the polycarbonate showed 90dB in the range of 100MHz to 1000MHz.