• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.8 no.4B
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• pp.565-571
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• 1999

In this study, high-density plasma etching characteristics of ITO(indium tin oxide) films used for transparent electrode in dispaly devices were investigated. Plasma diagnostic and surface analysis tools were used to understand etch reaction mechanism. The etch rate of ITO was increased by the increase of reactive radicals such as H and $CH_3$ with the addition of moderate amount of $CH_4$ to Ar. However, the addition of excess amount of $CH_4$ decreased possibly due to the increased polymer formation on the ITO surface being etched. The increase of source power and bias boltage increased ITO etch rates but it decreased selectivities over under-layers $(SiO_2, Si_3N_4)$. The increase of working pressure up to 20mTorr also increased ITO etch rates, however the further increased of the pressure decreased ITO etch rates. From the analysis of XPS, a peak related to the polymer of hydrocarbon was observed on the etched ITO surface especially for high $CH_4$ conditions and it appears to affect ITO etch rates.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.128-128
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• 2006

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.210-210
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• 2011

The effects of CH2F2 and N2 gas flow rates on the etch selectivity of silicon nitride (Si3N4) layers to extreme ultra-violet (EUV) resist and the variation of the line edge roughness (LER) of the EUV resist and Si3N4 pattern were investigated during etching of a Si3N4/EUV resist structure in dual-frequency superimposed CH2F2/N2/Ar capacitive coupled plasmas (DFS-CCP). The flow rates of CH2F2 and N2 gases played a critical role in determining the process window for ultra-high etch selectivity of Si3N4/EUV resist due to disproportionate changes in the degree of polymerization on the Si3N4 and EUV resist surfaces. Increasing the CH2F2 flow rate resulted in a smaller steady state CHxFy thickness on the Si3N4 and, in turn, enhanced the Si3N4 etch rate due to enhanced SiF4 formation, while a CHxFy layer was deposited on the EUV resist surface protecting the resist under certain N2 flow conditions. The LER values of the etched resist tended to increase at higher CH2F2 flow rates compared to the lower CH2F2 flow rates that resulted from the increased degree of polymerization.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.231-237
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• 2001

Etch rates up to 120 nm/min for $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ were achieved in both $SF_{6}/Ar$ and $Cl_{2}/Ar$ discharges. The effect of ultraviolet (UV) light illumination during ICP etching on $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ etch rate in those plasma chemistries was examined and UV illumination was found to produce significant enhancements in $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ etch rates most likely due to photoassisted desorption of the etch products. The effects of ion flux, ion energy, and plasma composition on (Ba, Sr)$TiO_3$ etch rate were examined and maximum etch rate ~90 nm/min was achieved in $Cl_{2}/Ar$ ICP discharges while $CH_{4}/H_{2}/Ar$ chemistry produced extremely low etch rates (${\leq}10\;nm/min$) under all conditions.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.522-526
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• 2009

Graphene has been effectively synthesized on Ni/SiO$_2$/Si substrates with CH$_4$ (1 SCCM) diluted in Ar/H$_2$(10%) (99 SCCM) by using an inductively-coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Graphene was formed on the entire surface of the 500 nm thick Ni substrate even at 700 $^{\circ}C$, although CH$_4$ and Ar/H$_2$ gas were supplied under plasma of 600 W for 1 second. The Raman spectrum showed typical graphene features with D, G, and 2D peaks at 1356, 1584, and 2710 cm$^{-1}$, respectively. With increase of growth temperature to 900 $^{\circ}C$, the ratios of the D band intensity to the G band intensity and the 2D band intensity to the G band intensity were increased and decreased, respectively. The results were strongly correlated to a rougher and coarser Ni surface due to the enhanced recrystallization process at higher temperatures. In contrast, highquality graphene was synthesized at 1000 $^{\circ}C$ on smooth and large Ni grains, which were formed by decreasing Ni deposition thickness to 300 nm.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.36-40
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• 2003

The diamond-like nanocomposite (DLN) thin films were deposited on Si substrates using $CH_4/(C_2H_5O)_4Si/H_2$/Ar gas mixtures as source gases by the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The chemical structure and microstructure of grown films were investigated and their tribological properties were evaluated by a ball-on-plate type tribometer. The deposited DLN films mainly consisted of diamond-like a-C:H and quartz-like a-Si:O networks. The DLN films had a good agreement with tribological coating applications due to their extremely low friction coefficients and low wear rates.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.190-193
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• 2012

Transparent diamond-like carbon (DLC) films were synthesized on glass using radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition method from the gas mixture of $CH_4$, $SiH_4$ and Ar. The pressure, the rf-power, $CH_4/SiH_4/Ar$ ratio, and the deposition time were 0.1Torr, 100W, 20 : 1 : 1, and 20 min, respectively. The optical transmittances of DLC-deposited glass and uncoated glass were compared with each other in the visible light regions. The DLC-deposited glass showed transmittance of approximately 83 % and 95 % as compared to the uncoated glass for the wavelength of 380 nm and 500 nm, respectively. The hardness and roughness of DLC-coated glass have been measured by nanoindentation and AFM, respectively. The DLC-coated glass showed a little less or similar optical transmittance compared to the uncoated glass, while the hardness of DLC-coated glass was 2.5 times higher than that of the uncoated glass. The deposited DLC film had the very smooth surface and was thicker than 150 nm after deposition for 20 min.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.123-123
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• 2006

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.90-94
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• 2009

The development of low-k materials is essential for modern semiconductor processes to reduce the cross-talk, signal delay and capacitance between multiple layers. The effect of the $CH_4$ concentration on the formation of SiOC(-H) films and their dielectric characteristics were investigated. SiOC(-H) thin films were deposited on Si(100)/$SiO_2$/Ti/Pt substrates by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) with $SiH_4$, $CO_2$ and $CH_4$ gas mixtures. After the deposition, the SiOC(-H) thin films were annealed in an Ar atmosphere using rapid thermal annealing (RTA) for 30min. The electrical properties of the SiOC(-H) films were then measured using an impedance analyzer. The dielectric constant decreased as the $CH_4$ concentration of low-k SiOC(-H) thin film increased. The decrease in the dielectric constant was explained in terms of the decrease of the ionic polarization due to the increase of the relative carbon content. The spectrum via Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy showed a variety of bonding configurations, including Si-O-Si, H-Si-O, Si-$(CH_3)_2$, Si-$CH_3$ and $CH_x$ in the absorbance mode over the range from 650 to $4000\;cm^{-1}$. The results showed that dielectric properties with different $CH_4$ concentrations are closely related to the (Si-$CH_3$)/[(Si-$CH_3$)+(Si-O)] ratio.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.250-251
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• 2009

For the fabrication of a multilevel resist (MLR) based on a very thin amorphous carbon (a-C) layer an $Si_{3}N_{4}$ hard-mask layer, the selective etching of the $Si_{3}N_{4}$ layer using physical-vapor-deposited (PVD) a-C mask was investigated in a dual-frequency superimposed capacitively coupled plasma etcher by varying the following process parameters in $CH_{2}F_{2}/H_{2}/Ar$ plasmas : HF/LF powr ratio ($P_{HF}/P_{LF}$), and $CH_{2}F_{2}$ and $H_2$ flow rates. It was found that infinitely high etch selectivities of the $Si_{3}N_{4}$ layers to the PVD a-C on both the blanket and patterned wafers could be obtained for certain gas flow conditions. The $H_2$ and $CH_{2}F_{2}$ flow ratio was found to play a critical role in determining the process window for infinite $Si_{3}N_{4}$/PVDa-C etch selectivity, due to the change in the degree of polymerization. Etching of ArF PR/BARC/$SiO_x$/PVDa-C/$Si_{3}N_{4}$ MLR structure supported the possibility of using a very thin PVD a-C layer as an etch-mask layer for the $Si_{3}N_{4}$ layer.