• Tribology and Lubricants
• /
• v.34 no.6
• /
• pp.279-283
• /
• 2018

In this study, we investigate the behavior of abrasive particles and change of the stick-slip pattern according to chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process parameters when a large number of abrasive particles are fixed on a pad. The CMP process is simulated using the finite element method. In the simulation, the abrasive grains are composed of those used in the actual CMP process. Considering the cohesion of the abrasive grains with the start of the CMP process, abrasive particles with various sizes are fixed onto the pad at different intervals so that stick-slip could occur. In this analysis, we determine that when the abrasive particle size is relatively large, the stick-slip period does not change as the pressure increases while the moving speed is constant. However, if the size of the abrasive grains is relatively small, the amount of deformation of the grains increases due to the elasticity of the pad. Therefore, the stick-slip pattern may not be observed. As the number of abrasive particles increases, the stick-slip period and displacement decrease. This is consistent with the decrease in the von Mises yield stress value on the surface of the wafer as the number of abrasive grains increases. We determine that when the number of the abrasive grains increases, the polishing rate, and characteristics are improved, and scratches are reduced. Moreover, we establish that the period of stick-slip increases and the change of the stick-slip size was not large when the abrasive particle size was relatively small.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
• /
• v.8 no.5
• /
• pp.749-754
• /
• 2022

High adhesion and water resistance of the skin surface are required for wearable and skin-attachable electronic patches in various medical applications. In this study, we report a stretchable electronic patch that mimics the drainable structure pattern of the hexagonal channels of frog's pads and the sucker of an octopus based on carbon-based conductive polymer composite materials. The hexagonal channel structure that mimics the pads of frogs drains water and improves adhesion through crack arresting effect, and the suction structure that mimics an octopus sucker shows high adhesion on wet surfaces. In addition, the high-adhesive electronic patch has excellent adhesion to various surfaces such as silicone wafer (max. 4.06 N/cm²) and skin replica surface (max. 1.84 N/cm²) in dry and wet conditions. The high skin-adhesive electronic patch made of a polymer composite material based on a polymer matrix and carbon particles can reliably detect electrocardiogram (ECG) in dry and humid environments. The proposed electronic patch presents potential applications for wearable and skin-attachable electronic devices for detecting various biosignals.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.20 no.11
• /
• pp.617-622
• /
• 2010

We have studied methods to save Si source during the fabrication process of crystalline Si solar cells. One way is to use a thin silicon wafer substrate. As the thickness of the wafers is reduced, mechanical fractures of the substrate increase with the mechanical handling of the thin wafers. It is expected that the mechanical fractures lead to a dropping of yield in the solar cell process. In this study, the mechanical properties of 220-micrometer-solar grade Cz p-type monocrystalline Si wafers were investigated by varying saw-damage etching conditions in order to improve the flexural strength of ultra-thin monocrystalline Si solar cells. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution and tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide (TMAH) solution were used as etching solutions. Etching processes were operated with a varying of the ratio of KOH and TMAH solutions in different temperature conditions. After saw-damage etching, wafers were cleaned with a modified RCA cleaning method for ten minutes. Each sample was divided into 42 pieces using an automatic dicing saw machine. The surface morphologies were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and 3D optical microscopy. The thickness distribution was measured by micrometer. The strength distribution was measured with a 4-point-bending tester. As a result, TMAH solution at $90^{\circ}C$ showed the best performance for flexural strength.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.73-79
• /
• 2013

Crystalline silicon solar cells with $SiN_x/SiN_x$ and $SiN_x/SiO_x$ double layer anti-reflection coatings(ARC) were studied in this paper. Optimizing passivation effect and optical properties of $SiN_x$ and $SiO_x$ layer deposited by PECVD was performed prior to double layer application. When the refractive index (n) of silicon nitride was varied in range of 1.9~2.3, silicon wafer deposited with silicon nitride layer of 80 nm thickness and n= 2.2 showed the effective lifetime of $1,370{\mu}m$. Silicon nitride with n= 1.9 had the smallest extinction coefficient among these conditions. Silicon oxide layer with 110 nm thickness and n= 1.46 showed the extinction coefficient spectrum near to zero in the 300~1,100 nm region, similar to silicon nitride with n= 1.9. Thus silicon nitride with n= 1.9 and silicon oxide with n= 1.46 would be proper as the upper ARC layer with low extinction coefficient, and silicon nitride with n=2.2 as the lower layer with good passivation effect. As a result, the double layer AR coated silicon wafer showed lower surface reflection and so more light absorption, compared with $SiN_x$ single layer. With the completed solar cell with $SiN_x/SiN_x$ of n= 2.2/1.9 and $SiN_x/SiO_x$ of n= 2.2/1.46, the electrical characteristics was improved as ${\Delta}V_{oc}$= 3.7 mV, ${\Delta}_{sc}=0.11mA/cm^2$ and ${\Delta}V_{oc}$=5.2 mV, ${\Delta}J_{sc}=0.23mA/cm^2$, respectively. It led to the efficiency improvement as 0.1% and 0.23%.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.239-246
• /
• 1999

A highly sensitive photovoltaic infrared photodiode was fabricated for detecting infrared light in $3{\sim}5\;{\mu}m$ wavelength range on InSb wafer with p-i-n structure grown by MOCVD. Silicon dioxide($SiO_2$) insulating films for the junction interface and surface of photodiode were prepared using RPCVD because InSb has low melting point and evaporation temperature. After formation of In ohmic contacts by thermal evaporation, the electrical properties of the photodiode were characterized in dark state at 77K. A product of zero-bias resistance and area($R_0A$) showed $1.56{\times}10^6\;{\Omega}{\cdot}cm^2$ that satisfied BLIP(background limited infrared photodetector) condition. When the photodiode was tested under infrared light, the normalized detectivity of about $10^{11}\;cm{\cdot}Hz^{1/2}{\cdot}W^{-1}$ was obtained. we successfully fabricated a unit cell with InSb IR array with good quantum efficiency and high detectivity.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.283-290
• /
• 1999

The $n^+/p/p^+$ junction PERL solar cell of $0.1{\sim}2{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ (100) p type silicon wafer was fabricated through the following steps; that is, wafer cutting, inverted pyramidally textured surfaces etching by KOH, phosphorus and boron diffusion, anti-reflection coating, grid formation and contact annealing. At this time, the optical characteristics of device surface and the efficiency of doping concentration for resistivity were investigated. And diffusion depth and doping concentration for n+ doping were simulated by silvaco program. Then their results were compared with measured results. Under the illumination of AM (air mass)1.5, $100\;mW/cm^2$ $I_{sc}$, $V_{oc}$, fill factor and the conversion efficiency were 43mA, 0.6 V, 0.62. and 16% respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.7 no.1
• /
• pp.59-65
• /
• 1998

Multi-layer diamond-like carbon (DLC) films were deposited by 13.56 MHz r.f. PACVD method. Multi-layer DLC film was composed of 2.5 $mu extrm{m}$ thick pure DLC filml and 0.2$\mu\textrm{m}$ thick Si incorporated DLC (Si-DLC) film as a surface layer. Tribological behaviors of the multi-layer DLC film were investigated with a ball-on-disk type tribometer in ambient atmosphere using AISI 52100 steel ball. Low friction coefficient (<0.1) period increased with increasing the Si content in the surface Si-DLC film. The wear rate after 44,000 cycles and 158,400 cycles were the $2.5\times10^{-8}\sim1.8\times10^{-7}\textrm{mm}^3$/rev. and $7.1\times10^{-9}\sim1.8\times10^{-8}\textrm{mm}^3$/rev.,respectively. The wear rate of the multi-layer DLC film after 158,400 cycles was about 2 times smaller than that of pure DLC films of 2.7 $\mu\textrm{m}$ thickness. This high wear resistance and low friction coefficient was caused by the formation of Si oxide layer on the wear scar surface, as confirmed by the debris composition analysis. It was further shown that this si oxide debris layer on the wear scar surface is formed again even after removing the debris of the steel ball, which maintain the low friction coefficient between multi-layer DLC films and steel ball.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2008.06a
• /
• pp.477-477
• /
• 2008

For more than three decades, the gate dielectrics in CMOS devices are $SiO_2$ because of its blocking properties of current in insulated gate FET channels. As the dimensions of feature size have been scaled down (width and the thickness is reduced down to 50 urn and 2 urn or less), gate leakage current is increased and reliability of $SiO_2$ is reduced. Many metal oxides such as $TiO_2$, $Ta_2O_4$, $SrTiO_3$, $Al_2O_3$, $HfO_2$ and $ZrO_2$ have been challenged for memory devices. These materials posses relatively high dielectric constant, but $HfO_2$ and $Al_2O_3$ did not provide sufficient advantages over $SiO_2$ or $Si_3N_4$ because of reaction with Si substrate. Recently, $HfO_2$ have been attracted attention because Hf forms the most stable oxide with the highest heat of formation. In addition, Hf can reduce the native oxide layer by creating $HfO_2$. However, new gate oxide candidates must satisfy a standard CMOS process. In order to fabricate high density memories with small feature size, the plasma etch process should be developed by well understanding and optimizing plasma behaviors. Therefore, it is necessary that the etch behavior of $HfO_2$ and plasma parameters are systematically investigated as functions of process parameters including gas mixing ratio, rf power, pressure and temperature to determine the mechanism of plasma induced damage. However, there is few studies on the the etch mechanism and the surface reactions in $BCl_3$ based plasma to etch $HfO_2$ thin films. In this work, the samples of $HfO_2$ were prepared on Si wafer with using atomic layer deposition. In our previous work, the maximum etch rate of $BCl_3$/Ar were obtained 20% $BCl_3$/ 80% Ar. Over 20% $BCl_3$ addition, the etch rate of $HfO_2$ decreased. The etching rate of $HfO_2$ and selectivity of $HfO_2$ to Si were investigated with using in inductively coupled plasma etching system (ICP) and $BCl_3/Cl_2$/Ar plasma. The change of volume densities of radical and atoms were monitored with using optical emission spectroscopy analysis (OES). The variations of components of etched surfaces for $HfO_2$ was investigated with using x-ray photo electron spectroscopy (XPS). In order to investigate the accumulation of etch by products during etch process, the exposed surface of $HfO_2$ in $BCl_3/Cl_2$/Ar plasma was compared with surface of as-doped $HfO_2$ and all the surfaces of samples were examined with field emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscope (AFM).

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.188-192
• /
• 2013

Many studies have been conducted for preventing from diffusion between silicon wafer and metallic thin film due to a decrease of line-width and multi-layer thin film for miniaturization and high integration of semiconductor. This paper has focused on the nano-mechanical property of diffusion barrier which sample is prepared for various gas flow rate of nitrogen with tungsten (W) base from 2.5 to 10 sccm. The deposition rate, resistivity and crystallographic properties were measured by a ${\beta}$-ray back-scattering spectroscopy, 4-point probe and x-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. We also has investigated the nano-mechanical property using the nano-indenter. As a result, the surface hardness of W-N thin film was increased rapidly from 10.07 to 15.55 GPa when the nitrogen gas flow was increased from 2.5 to 5 sccm. And the surface hardness of W-N thin film had 12.65 and 12.77 GPa at the nitrogen gas flow of 7.5 and 10 sccm respectively. These results were decreased by the comparison with the W-N thin film at nitrogen gas flow of 5 sccm. It was inferred that these severe changes were caused by the stoichiometric difference between the crystalline and amorphous state in W-N thin film. In addition, these results were caused by increased compressive stress.

• Journal of IKEEE
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.1226-1229
• /
• 2018

We investigated the improvement of surface roughness and states after high temperature annealing using reduced-graphene oxide (r-GO) capping layer on ion-implanted 4H-SiC epitaxial layer. The specification of the 4H-SiC wafer grown on n-type $4^{\circ}$ off-axis 4H-SiC was $10{\mu}m$-thick and n-type epitaxial layer with a dose of $1.73{\times}10^{15}cm^{-2}$. The $n^+$ region were formed by multiple nitrogen ion-implantations and r-GO capping layer was produced by spray coating method. AFM measurements revealed that RMS value of the sample capped with r-GO was tenfold decrease compared to the sample without r-GO capping. The improvement of surface states was also verified by the improvement of leakage current level.