• 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.

• Journal of Korean Vacuum Science & Technology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.5-7
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• 2002

For quantitative N depth profiling, N profiles were measured in a～3 m Si oxynitride by low energy O$\sub$2+/sputtering and the result was calibrated with MEIS analysis of the N thickness and areal density. The quantitative depth profile of nitrogen showed the pileup of nitrogen atoms at the interface of ultrathin oxynitride films.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.62-65
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• 2017

Passivation of surface defects by the formation of chemically inert structure at the surface of $TiO_2$ nanocrystals can be potentially useful in enhancing their photocatalytic activity. In this regard, we have studied the surface chemical states of $TiO_2$ surfaces prepared by a treatment in the afterglow of $N_2$ microwave plasma using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). We find that nitrogen is incorporated into the surface after the treatment up to a few atomic percent. Interestingly, the surface oxynitride layer is found to be chemically stable when it's in contact with water at room temperature (RT). The surface nitrogen species were also found to be thermally stable upon annealing up to $150^{\circ}C$ in the atmospheric pressure. Thus, we conclude that the treatment of oxide materials such as $TiO_2$ in the afterglow of $N_2$ plasma can be effective way to passivate the surface with nitrogen species.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.237-243
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• 2017

We demonstrated the thin film deposition of sodium phosphorous oxynitride (NaPON) via RF magnetron sputtering of $Na_3PO_4$, as a solid-state Na-ion conductor similar to lithium phosphorous oxynitride (LiPON), which is a commonly used solid electrolyte. The deposited NaPON thin film was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, to investigate the feasibility of the solid-state electrolyte in several different cell configurations. The key properties of a solidstate electrolyte, i.e., ionic conductivity and activation energy, were estimated from the complex non-linear least square fitting of the measured impedance spectra at various temperatures in the range of $27-90^{\circ}C$. The ionic conductivity of the NaPON film was measured to be $8.73{\times}10^{-6}S\;cm^{-1}$ at $27^{\circ}C$, which was comparable to that of the LiPON film. The activation energy was estimated to be 0.164 eV, which was lower than that of the LiPON film (0.672 eV). The obtained values encourage the use of a NaPON thin film in the future as a reasonable solid-state electrolyte.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.4 no.3 s.12
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• pp.1-4
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• 2005

Silicon oxynitride films were deposited using ammonia as a nitrogen source via PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition) to study the physical properties of the films. Silane and nitrous oxide were used as silicon and oxygen sources, respectively. The composition of the silicon oxynitride films was well controlled by changing the ratios of the sources and confirmed by XPS. The silicon oxynitride films with high oxygen content showed bigger compressive stress and less refractive index, while the values of surface roughness were around 1 nm, irrespective of the variation of the source ratios.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.72-73
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• 2006

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.380-384
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• 1988

This investigation includes nitridation phenomena of silicon powder compacts in air. Nitridation reaction condition has been provided with using silicon nitride bed and active carbon additive. Reaction products are Oxynitride, $\alpha$-Si3N4, and $\beta$-Si3N4, Oxynitride(Si2N2O) phase in formed at outer surface layer ofsilicon powder compacts. $\alpha$-Si3N4, and $\beta$-Si3N4 are formed at inner region of powder compacts. Microstructural observation indicates that nitridation mechanism in this work is the same as conventional nitridation mechanism nitrogen gas.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.12-15
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• 2008

Hafnium oxynitride films have been deposited onto a silicon substrate by means of radio frequency (RF) reactive sputtering using a hafnium dioxide $(HfO_2)$ target with a variety of nitrogen! argon $(N_2/Ar)$ gas flow ratios. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES)results confirm that $N_2$ was successfully incorporated into the HfON films. An increase in the $N_2/Ar$ gas flow ratio resulted in metal oxynitride formation. The films prepared with a $N_2/Ar$ flow ratio of 20/20 sccm show (222), (530), and (611) directions of $HfO_2N_2$, and the (-111), (311) directions of $HfO_2$. From X-ray reflectometry measurements, it can be concluded that with $N_2$ incorporated into the HfON films, the film density increases. The density increases from 9.8 to $10.1g/cm^3$. XRR also reveals that the surface roughness is related to the $N_2/Ar$ flow ratio.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.12
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• pp.637-643
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• 2009

In this study, we analyzed the effect of silicon oxynitride matrix on the optical properties of Au nanoparticles dispersed on composite film and explored the effectiveness of the silicon in fine tuning the refractive index of the composite film for applications in optical waveguide devices. The atomic fraction of nitrogen in $SiO_xN_y$ films was controlled by varying the relative flow ratio of nitrogen gas in reactive sputtering and was evaluated optically using an effective medium theory with Bruggeman geometry consisting of a random mixture between $SiO_2$ and $Si_3N_4$. The Au nanoparticles were embedded in the $SiO_xN_y$ matrix by employing the alternating deposition technique and clearly showed an absorption peak due to the excitation of surface plasmon. With increasing nitrogen atomic fraction in the matrix, the surface plasmon resonance wavelength shifted to a longer wavelength (a red-shift) with an enhanced resonance absorption. These characteristics were interpreted using the Maxwell-Garnett effective medium theory. The formation of a guided mode in a slab waveguide consisting of 3 $\mu$m thick Au:$SiO_xN_y$ nanocomposite film was confirmed at the telecommunication wavelength of 1550 nm by prism coupler method and compared with the case of using $SiO_2$ matrix. The use of $SiO_xN_y$ matrix provides an effective way of controlling the mode confinement while maintaining or even enhancing the surface plasmon resonance properties.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.138-140
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• 2006

A new diagnosis model was constructed by combining atomic force microscopy (AFM), wavelet, and neural network. Plasma faults were characterized by filtering AFM-measured etch surface roughness with wavelet. The presented technique was evaluated with the data collected during the etching of silicon oxynitride thin film. A total of 17 etch experiments were conducted. Applying wavelet to AFM, surface roughness was detailed into vertical, horizon%at, and diagonal components. For each component, neural network recognition models were constructed and evaluated. Comparisons revealed that the vertical component-based model yielded about 30% improvement in the recognition accuracy over others. The presented technique was evaluated with the data collected during the etching of silicon oxynitride thin film. A total of 17 etch experiments were conducted