• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.146-150
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• 2021

Plasma information based virtual metrology (PI-VM) that predicts wafer-to-wafer etch rate variation after wet cleaning of plasma facing parts was developed. As input parameters, plasma information (PI) variables such as electron temperature, fluorine density and hydrogen density were extracted from optical emission spectroscopy (OES) data for etch plasma. The PI-VM model was trained by stepwise variable selection method and multi-linear regression method. The expected etch rate by PI-VM showed high correlation coefficient with measured etch rate from SEM image analysis. The PI-VM model revealed that the root cause of etch rate variation after the wet cleaning was desorption of hydrogen from the cleaned parts as hydrogen combined with fluorine and decreased etchant density and etch rate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.223.1-223.1
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• 2013

Since sapphire single crystal is one of the materials that have excellent mechanical and optical properties, the single crystal is widely used in various fields, and the demand for the use of substrate of LED devices is increasing rapidly. However, crystal defects such as dislocations and stacking faults worsen the properties of the single crystal intensely. When sapphire wafer of single crystal is used as LED substrate, especially, crystal defects have a strong influence on the characteristics of a film deposited on the wafer. In such a case quantitative assessment of the defects is essential, and the evaluation technique is now becoming one of the most important factors in commercialization of sapphire wafer. Wet etching is comparatively easy and accurate method to estimate dislocation density of single crystal because etching reaction primarily takes place where dislocations reached crystal surface which are chemically weak points, and produces etch pit. In the present study, the formation behavior of etch pits and etching time dependence were studied systematically. Etch pit density(EPD) analysis using optical microscope was also conducted and measurement uncertainty of EPD was studied to confirm the reliability of the results. EPDs and measurement uncertainties for 4 inch sapphire wafers were analyzed in terms of 5 and 21 points EPD readings. EPDs and measurement uncertainties in terms of 5 points readings for 4 inch wafers were compared by 2 organizations. We found that the average EPD value in terms of 5 points readings for a 4 inch sapphire wafer may represent the EPD value of the wafer.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.572-578
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• 2015

Yield prediction is one of the most important issues in semiconductor manufacturing. Especially, for a fast-changing environment of the semiconductor industry, accurate and reliable prediction techniques are required. In this study, we propose a prediction model to predict wafer yield based on virtual metrology process parameters in semiconductor manufacturing. The proposed prediction model addresses imbalance problems frequently encountered in semiconductor processes so as to construct reliable prediction model. The effectiveness and applicability of the proposed procedure was demonstrated through a real data from a leading semiconductor industry in South Korea.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.2227-2232
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• 2011

The new metrology, Advanced Poly-silicon Ultra-Trace Profiling (APUTP), was developed for measuring bulk Cu and Ni in heavily boron-doped silicon wafers. A Ni recovery yield of 98.8% and a Cu recovery yield of 96.0% were achieved by optimizing the vapor phase etching and the wafer surface scanning conditions, following capture of Cu and Ni by the poly-silicon layer. A lower limit of detection (LOD) than previous techniques could be achieved using the mixture vapor etching method. This method can be used to indicate the amount of Cu and Ni resulting from bulk contamination in heavily boron-doped silicon wafers during wafer manufacturing. It was found that a higher degree of bulk Ni contamination arose during alkaline etching of heavily boron-doped silicon wafers compared with lightly boron-doped silicon wafers. In addition, it was proven that bulk Cu contamination was easily introduced in the heavily boron-doped silicon wafer by polishing the wafer with a slurry containing Cu in the presence of amine additives.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.325-330
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• 2015

With approval from the Asia Pacific Metrology Program Working Group on Materials Metrology (APMP WGMM), an international comparison for sheet resistance standards for silicon wafers was firstly conducted among Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) in Korea, CMS/ITRI in Taiwan, and NIM in China, which are national metrology institutes (NMIs), from August 2011 to January 2012. The sheet resistance values of the standards are $10{\Omega}$, $100{\Omega}$, and $1000{\Omega}$; the measurement was conducted in sequence at KRISS, CMS/ITRI, NIM, and KRISS again using the four-point probe method with single and dual configuration techniques. The reference value for the measurement results of the three NMIs was obtained through averaging the values of the three results for each sheet resistance range. The differences between the reference value and the measured values is within 0.22% for $10{\Omega}$, 0.17% for $100{\Omega}$, and 0.12% for $1000{\Omega}$. Therefore, the international consistency for conducting sheet resistance measurements is confirmed within 0.22% through the APMP WGMM approved comparison.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.282-287
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• 2008

Love wave is one of the shear horizontal waves and it can propagate between two layers in liquid without energy loss. The SAW (surface acoustic wave) sensor using Love wave is very useful for real time measurement of the viscosity of liquid with high sensitivity. In this study, the 77 MHz and 155 MHz Love wave SAW sensors were fabricated and use to measure the viscosity of low viscous liquid. To generate the surface acoustic wave, the inter-digital transducers were fabricated on the quartz crystal wafer. In order to obtain the optimal thickness of the coating film (novolac photoresist) generating the Love wave on the surface of SAW device, theoretical calculation was performed. The performances of fabricated Love wave SAW sensors were tested. As test liquid, pure water and glycerol solutions having different concentrations were used. Since the determination coefficients of the regression equations for measuring the viscosity of liquid are greater than 0.98, the developed Love wave SAW sensors in this study will be very useful for precise measurement of viscosity of liquid.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.107-114
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• 2017

In this investigation, we describe a metrological technique for surface and thickness profiles of a silicon (Si) wafer by using a 6 degree of freedom (DOF) stitching method. Low coherence scanning interferometry employing near infrared light, partially transparent to a Si wafer, is adopted to simultaneously measure the surface and thickness profiles of the wafer. For the large field of view, a stitching method of the sub-aperture measurement is added to the measurement system; also, 6 DOF parameters, including the lateral positioning errors and the rotational error, are considered. In the experiment, surface profiles of a double-sided polished wafer with a 100 mm diameter were measured with the sub-aperture of an 18 mm diameter at $10\times10$ locations and the surface profiles of both sides were stitched with the sub-aperture maps. As a result, the nominal thickness of the wafer was $483.2{\mu}m$ and the calculated PV values of both surfaces were $16.57{\mu}m$ and $17.12{\mu}m$, respectively.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.46-56
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• 2012

The purpose of virtual metrology (VM) in semiconductor manufacturing is to predict every wafer's metrological values based on its process equipment data without an actual metrology. In this paper, we propose novelty detection-based reliability estimation models for VM in order to support flexible utilization of VM results. Because the proposed model can not only estimate the reliability of VM, but also identify suspicious process variables lowering the reliability, quality control actions can be taken selectively based on the reliance level and its causes. Based on the preliminary experimental results with actual semiconductor manufacturing process data, our models can successfully give a high reliance level to the wafers with small prediction errors and a low reliance level to the wafers with large prediction errors. In addition, our proposed model can give more detailed information by identifying the critical process variables and their relative impacts on the low reliability.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.62-67
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• 2007

This paper presents a novel MEMS condenser microphone with rigid backplate to enhance acoustic characteristics. The MEMS condenser microphone consists of membrane and backplate chips which are bonded together by gold-tin (Au/Sn) eutectic solder bonding. The membrane chip has 2.5 mm${\times}$2.5 mm, $0.5{\mu}m$ thick low stress silicon nitride membrane, 2 mm${\times}$2 mm Au/Ni/Cr membrane electrode, and $3{\mu}m$ thick Au/Sn layer. The backplate chip has 2 mm${\times}$2 mm, $150{\mu}m$ thick single crystal silicon rigid backplate, 1.8 mm${\times}$1.8 mm backplate electrode, and air gap, which is fabricated by bulk micromachining and silicon deep reactive ion etching. Slots and $50-60{\mu}m$ radius circular acoustic holes to reduce air damping are also formed in the backplate chip. The fabricated microphone sensitivity is $39.8{\mu}V/Pa$ (-88 dB re. 1 V/Pa) at 1 kHz and 28 V polarization voltage. The microphone shows flat frequency response within 1 dB between 20 Hz and 5 kHz.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.36-41
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• 2009

Superconducting quantum phenomena are getting attention from the field of metrology area. Following its first successful application of Josephson effect to voltage standard, piconewton force standard was suggested as a candidate for the next application of superconducting quantum effects in metrology. It is predicted that a micron-sized superconducting Nb ring in a strong magnetic field gradient generates a quantized force of the order of sub-piconewtons. In this work, we studied the design and fabrication of Nb superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) on an ultra-thin silicon cantilever. The Nb SQUID and electrodes were structured on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer by dc magnetron sputtering and lift-off lithography. Using the resulting SOI wafer, we fabricated V-shaped and parallel-beam cantilevers, each with a $30-{\mu}m$-wide paddle; the length, width, and thickness of each cantilever arm were typically $440{\mu}m,\;4.5{\mu}m$, and $0.34{\mu}m$, respectively. However, the cantilevers underwent bending, a technical difficulty commonly encountered during the fabrication of electrical circuits on ultra-soft mechanical substrates. In order to circumvent this difficulty, we controlled the Ar pressure during Nb sputtering to minimize the intrinsic stress in the Nb film and studied the effect of residual stress on the resultant device.