• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.269-273
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• 2008

The etch of $(Na_{0.5}K_{0.5})NbO_3$ (NKN) thin film was performed in $BCl_3/Cl_2/Ar$ inductively coupled plasma. It was found that the 1sccm addition $BCl_3$ (5%) into $Cl_2/Ar$ plasma caused a non-monotonic behavior of the NKN etch rate. The maximum etch rate of NKN was 95.3 nm/min at $BCl_3$ (1 sccm)/$Cl_2$ (16 sccm)/Ar (4 sccm), 800 W ICP power, 1 Pa pressure and 400 W bias power. The NKN etch rate shows a monotonic behavior a s the bias power increases. The analysis of the narrow scan spectra of XPS for both a s-deposited and etched NKN films allowed one to assume ion assisted etch mechanism. The most probable reason for the maximum etch rate can be defined as a concurrence of chemical and physical etch pathways.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.169-169
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• 2008

To keep pace with scaling trends of CMOS technologies, high-k metal oxides are to be introduced. Due to their high permittivity, high-k materials can achieve the required capacitance with stacks of higher physical thickness to reduce the leakage current through the scaled gate oxide, which make it become much more promising materials to instead of $SiO_2$. As further studying on high-k, an understanding of the relation between the etch characteristics of high-k dielectric materials and plasma properties is required for the low damaged removal process to match standard processing procedure. There are some reports on the dry etching of different high-k materials in ICP and ECR plasma with various plasma parameters, such as different gas combinations ($Cl_2$, $Cl_2/BCl_3$, $Cl_2$/Ar, $SF_6$/Ar, and $CH_4/H_2$/Ar etc). Understanding of the complex behavior of particles at surfaces requires detailed knowledge of both macroscopic and microscopic processes that take place; also certain processes depend critically on temperature and gas pressure. The choice of $BCl_3$ as the chemically active gas results from the fact that it is widely used for the etching o the materials covered by the native oxides due to the effective extraction of oxygen in the form of $BCl_xO_y$ compounds. In this study, the surface reactions and the etch rate of $Al_2O_3$ films in $BCl_3/Cl_2$/Ar plasma were investigated in an inductively coupled plasma(ICP) reactor in terms of the gas mixing ratio, RF power, DC bias and chamber pressure. The variations of relative volume densities for the particles were measured with optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The surface imagination was measured by AFM and SEM. The chemical states of film was investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), which confirmed the existence of nonvolatile etch byproducts.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.135-136
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• 2009

The etching characteristics of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and etch selectivity of ZnO to $SiO_2$ in $BCl_3/Ar/Cl_2$ plasma were investigated. It was found that ZnO etch rate shows a non-monotonic behavior with increasing both Ar fraction in $BCl_3$ plasma, RF power, and gas pressure. The maximum ZnO etch rate of 53 nm/min was obtained for $BCl_3$(16 sccm)/Ar(4 sccm)/$Cl_2$(3 sccm) gas mixture. The chemical state of etched surfaces was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). From these data, the suggestions on the ZnO etch mechanism were made.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.188-192
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• 2000

In this study PZT etching was performed using planar inductively coupled Ar/Cl$_2$/BCI$_3$ plasma. The etch rate of PZT film was 2450 $\AA$/min at Ar(20)/BCl$_3$(80) gas mixing ratio and substrate temperature of 8$0^{\circ}C$. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) analysis for films composition of etched PZT surface was utilized. The chemical bond of PbO is broken by ion bombardment and Cl radical, and the peak of metal Pb in a Pb 4f narrow scan begins to appear upon etching. As increasing additive BCl$_3$content the relative content of oxygen decreases rapidly in contrast with etch rate of PZT thin film. So we though that the etch rate of PZT thin film increased because abundant B and BCl radicals made volatile oxy-compound such as B$_{x}$/O$_{y}$ and/or BClO$_{x}$ bond. We achieved etch profile of about 80$^{\circ}$ at Ar(20)/BCl$_3$(80) gas mixing condition and substrate temperature of 8$0^{\circ}C$TEX>X>.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.251-255
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• 2009

In this study, the plasma etching of the TaN thin film with $O_2/BCl_3$/Ar gas chemistries was investigated. The equipment for the etching was an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system. The etch rate of the TaN thin film and the selectivity of TaN to $SiO_2$ and PR was studied as a function of the process parameters, including the amount of $O_2$ added, an RF power, a DC-bias voltage and the process pressure. When the gas mixing ratio was $O_2$(3 sccm)/$BCl_3$(6 sccm)/Ar(14 sccm), with the other conditions fixed, the highest etch rate was obtained. As the RF power and the dc-bias voltage were increased, the etch rate of the TaN thin film was increased. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate the chemical states of the surface of the TaN thin film.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.168-168
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• 2008

Dimension of a transistor has rapidly shrunk to increase the speed of device and to reduce the power consumption. However, it is accompanied with several problems like direct tunneling through the gate dioxide layer and low conductivity characteristic of poly-Si gate in nano-region. To cover these faults, study of new materials is urgently needed. Recently, high dielectric materials like $Al_2O_3$, $ZrO_2$, and $HfO_2$ are being studied for equivalent oxide thickness (EOT). However, poly-Si gate is not compatible with high-k materials for gate-insulator. Poly Si gate with high-k material has some problems such as gate depletion and dopant penetration problems. Therefore, new gate structure or materials that are compatible with high-k materials are also needed. TiN for metal/high-k gate stack is conductive enough to allow a good electrical connection and compatible with high-k materials. According to this trend, the study on dry etching of TiN for metal/high-k gate stack is needed. In this study, the investigations of the TiN etching characteristics were carried out using the inductively coupled $BCl_3$-based plasma system and adding $Cl_2$ gas. Dry etching of the TiN was studied by varying the etching parameters including $BCl_3$/Ar gas mixing ratio, RF power, DC-bias voltage to substrate, and $Cl_2$ gas addition. The plasmas were characterized by optical emission spectroscopy analysis. Scanning electron microscopy was used to investigate the etching profile.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.8 no.4B
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• pp.541-547
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• 1999

Reactive ion etching process for InP using BCl3/O2/Ar high density inductively coupled plasma was investigated. The experimental design method proposed by the Taguchi was utilized to cover the whole parameter range while maintaining reasonable number of actual experiments. Results showed that the ICP power and the chamber pressure were the two dominant parameters affectsing etch results. It was also observed that the etch rate decreased and the surface roughness improved as the ICP power and the bias voltage increased and as the chamber pressure decreased. The Addition of oxygen to the gas mixture drastically improved surface roughness by suppressing the formation of the surface reaction product. The optimum condition was ICP power 600W, bias voltage -100V, 10% $O_2$, 6mTorr, and $180^{\circ}C$, resulting in about 0.15$\mu\textrm{m}$ etch rate with smooth surfaces and vertical mesa sidewalls Also, the maximum etch rate of abut 4.5 $\mu\textrm{m}$/min was obtained at the condition of ICP power 800W, bias voltage -150V, 15% $O_2$, 8mTorr and $160^{\circ}C$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.17-18
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• 2007

The etching characteristics of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and etch selectivity of ZnO to $SiO_2\;in\;BCl_3$/Ar plasma were investigated. It was found that ZnO etch rate shows a non-monotonic behavior with increasing both Ar fraction in $BCl_3$ plasma, RF power, and gas pressure. The maximum ZnO etch rate of 50.3 nm/min was obtained for $BCl_3$ (80%)/Ar(20%) gas mixture. The plasmas were characterized using optical emission spectroscopy (OES) analysis measurements while chemical state of etched surfaces was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). From these data the suggestions on the ZnO etch mechanism were made.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.145-145
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• 2008

High-k materials have been paid much more attention for their characteristics with high permittivity to reduce the leakage current through the scaled gate oxide. Among the high-k materials, $ZrO_2$ is one of the most attractive ones combing such favorable properties as a high dielectric constant (k= 20 ~ 25), wide band gap (5 ~ 7 eV) as well as a close thermal expansion coefficient with Si that results in good thermal stability of the $ZrO_2$/Si structure. During the etching process, plasma etching has been widely used to define fine-line patterns, selectively remove materials over topography, planarize surfaces, and trip photoresist. About the high-k materials etching, the relation between the etch characteristics of high-k dielectric materials and plasma properties is required to be studied more to match standard processing procedure with low damaged removal process. Among several etching techniques, we chose the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) for high-density plasma, easy control of ion energy and flux, low ownership and simple structure. And the $BCl_3$ was included in the gas due to the effective extraction of oxygen in the form of $BCl_xO_y$ compounds. During the etching process, the wafer surface temperature is an important parameter, until now, there is less study on temperature parameter. In this study, the etch mechanism of $ZrO_2$ thin film was investigated in function of $Cl_2$ addition to $BCl_3$/Ar gas mixture ratio, RF power and DC-bias power based on substrate temperature increased from $10^{\circ}C$ to $80^{\circ}C$. The variations of relative volume densities for the particles were measured with optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The surface imagination was measured by scanning emission spectroscope (SEM). The chemical state of film was investigated using energy dispersive X-ray (EDX).

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.924-928
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• 2010

In this study, $HfAlO_3$ thin films using gate insulator of MOSFET were etched in inductively coupled plasma. The etch characteristics of the $HfAlO_3$ thin films has been investigated by varying $O_2/BCl_3$/Ar gas mixing ratio, a RF power, a DC bias voltage and a process pressure. As the $O_2$ concentration increases further, $HfAlO_3$ was redeposited. As increasing RF power and DC bias voltage, etch rates of the $HfAlO_3$ thin films increased. Whereas, as decreasing of the process pressure, etch rates of the $HfAlO_3$ thin films increased. The chemical reaction on the surface of the etched the $HfAlO_3$ thin films was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). These peaks moved a binding energy. This chemical shift indicates that there are chemical reactions between the $HfAlO_3$ thin films and radicals and the resulting etch by-products remain on the surface.