Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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A study of the NF3 plasma etching reaction with cobalt oxide films grown on an inorganic compounds

  • Jae-Yong Lee (Korea Radioactive Waste Agency) ;
  • Kyung-Min Kim (Department of Nuclear Engineering, Hanyang University) ;
  • Min-Seung Ko (Department of Nuclear Engineering, Hanyang University) ;
  • Yong-Soo Kim (Department of Nuclear Engineering, Hanyang University)
  • Received : 2022.06.14
  • Accepted : 2022.08.19
  • Published : 2022.12.25
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Abstract

In this study, an NF3 plasma etching reaction with a cobalt oxide (Co3O4) films grown on the surface of inorganic compounds using granite was investigated. Experimental results showed that the etching rate can be up to 1.604 mm/min at 380 ℃ under 150 W of RF power. EDS and XPS analysis showed that main reaction product is CoF2, which is generated by fluorination in NF3 plasma. The etching rate of cobalt oxide films grown on inorganic compounds in this study was affected by surface roughness and etch selectivity. This study demonstrates that the plasma surface decontamination can effectively and efficiently remove contaminated nuclides such as cobalt attached to aggregate in concrete generated when decommissioning of nuclear power plants.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by a Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning(KETEP) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy(MOTIE) of the Republic of Korea (No. 20191510301300) and by the Human Resources Program in Energy Technology of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), granted financial resources from the Ministry of Trade, Industry, & Energy, Republic of Korea (No. 20184030201970).

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