• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.188-192
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• 2013

Many studies have been conducted for preventing from diffusion between silicon wafer and metallic thin film due to a decrease of line-width and multi-layer thin film for miniaturization and high integration of semiconductor. This paper has focused on the nano-mechanical property of diffusion barrier which sample is prepared for various gas flow rate of nitrogen with tungsten (W) base from 2.5 to 10 sccm. The deposition rate, resistivity and crystallographic properties were measured by a ${\beta}$-ray back-scattering spectroscopy, 4-point probe and x-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. We also has investigated the nano-mechanical property using the nano-indenter. As a result, the surface hardness of W-N thin film was increased rapidly from 10.07 to 15.55 GPa when the nitrogen gas flow was increased from 2.5 to 5 sccm. And the surface hardness of W-N thin film had 12.65 and 12.77 GPa at the nitrogen gas flow of 7.5 and 10 sccm respectively. These results were decreased by the comparison with the W-N thin film at nitrogen gas flow of 5 sccm. It was inferred that these severe changes were caused by the stoichiometric difference between the crystalline and amorphous state in W-N thin film. In addition, these results were caused by increased compressive stress.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.573-580
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• 2004

The main goal of this study was to develop a micro-fabrication process for the capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT). In order to achieve this goal, the former research results of the micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) process for the cMUT were analyzed. The membrane deposition, sacrificial layer deposition and etching were found to be a main process of fabricating the cMUT. The optimal conditions for those microfabrication were determined by the experiment. The thickness, uniformity, and residual stress of the $Si_3N_3$ deposition which forms the membrane of the cMUT were characterized after growing the $Si_3N_3$ on Si-wafer under various process conditions. As a sacrificial layer, the growth rate of the $SiO_2$ deposition was analyzed under several process conditions. The optimal etching conditions of the sacrificial layer were analyzed. The microfabrication process developed in this study will be used to fabricate the cMUT.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 2005

NO adsorption can be used in synthesizing oxynitride thin films which have potential application in nanodevices. However, it is very difficult to understand the oxynitridation Process since too many factors are involved in it. In this paper, we present our first-principles molecular dynamics calculation of the NO molecule adsorption on the Si(001) surface as the initial stage of the oxynitridation process. The previous first-principles calculation has argued the NO molecule is dissociated with a very small activation barrier, 0.07eV, which acutally corresponds to 1.60eV considering thermodynamics. This is in clear contrast to the observation that NO is dissociated at temperatures as low as 20K From extensive searches of NO on the Si(001) surface, we have found the new dissociation processes that have the much lower activation energies, less than 0.01 eV. We also present the dissociation and penetration processes with the corresponding activation energies and discuss their experimental implications.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics D
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• v.34D no.2
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• pp.38-45
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• 1997

In this paper, the three-dimensional stress effect of thermal oxide is simulated. We developed a three-dimensional finite element numerical simulator including three-dimensional adaptive mesh generator that is able to refine and eliminate nearby moving boundary of oxide, and oxidation solver with stress model. To investigate the behavior of thermal oxidation the simulations of thermal oxidation for island and hole structures are carried out assuming silicon wafer of <100> direction, temperature of $1000^{\circ}C$, oxidation time of 60min, wet ambient, initial oxide thickness of $300\AA$, and nitride thickness of $2, 000\AA$. The main effect of deformation at the corner area of oxide is due to distribution of oxidant, but the deformation of oxide is affected by the stressin theoxide. In the island structure which is the structure mostly covered with nitride and a coner is opended to oxidation, oxidation is reduced at the coner by compressive stress. In the hole structure which is the structure mostly opedned to oxide and a coner is convered with nitride, however, oxidation is increased at the coner by tensile stress.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.177-177
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• 2010

티타늄 화합물은 뛰어난 물리적 특성과 인체 무해성을 가지고 있어 생체, 내식 및 내마모 재료 등에 널리 응용되고 있으며, 다양한 색상 구현을 통한 미려한 외관 등 기능성을 위한 표면처리 분야에도 많은 관심을 받고 있다. 이중 질화 티타늄은 금색을 대체할 수 있는 물질로 코팅방법과 기판온도, 바이어스, 질소유량 등과 같은 공정변수 제어를 통해 그 물성을 변화시킬 수 있어 기능적 측면과 함께 미려한 외관처리에 응용이 가능하다. 본 연구에서는 아크(cathodic arc) 코팅 시스템을 이용하여 다양한 조건에서 TiN 박막을 제조하고 그 특성을 평가하였다. 아크 장비는 화합물 박막을 코팅할 수 있는 아크 소스와 시편 홀더, 가스 주입구, 시편 가열장치 그리고 배기 장치로 구성되어 있고, 아크 소스에 장착된 타겟은 99.5%의 Ti 타겟을 사용하였다. 시편과 타겟 간의 거리는 약 31cm이며, 시편은 알코올과 아세톤으로 초음파 세척 된 강판(냉연 강판), 실리콘 웨이퍼를 사용하였다. 시편을 진공용기에 장착하고 ${\sim}10^{-6}$ Torr까지 진공배기를 실시하고, Ar 가스를 진공용기 내로 공급하여 ${\sim}10^{-4}$ Torr에서 시편에 bias (Pulse : 400V)를 인가한 후 아크를 발생시켜 약 5분간 청정을 실시하였다. 플라즈마 청정이 끝나면 시편에 인가된 bias를 차단하고, 질소 유량, 온도, bias, 시간 등의 공정변수에 따라 코팅을 실시하였다. 질소의 유량이 80sccm 일 때, Ti 금속 결정구조가 나타났는데, 이는 질소와 충분하게 반응하지 못한 Ti이 기판에 코팅되어 나타나는 현상으로 판단된다. 색상변화에서는 질소 유량이 증가함에 따라 노란색이 짙어지며, TiN은 시편에 인가되는 bias 전압이 높아질수록 붉은색이 증가하고, 온도에 따른 큰 변화는 관찰되지 않았다. 공정변수에 따른 반사율 변화는 TiN의 경우 질소 가스 유량이 200sccm, bias 150V, 공정 온도 200도에서 반사율이 가장 높았으며, 코팅 시간이 짧을수록 반사율이 높아지는 경향을 나타냈다. 따라서 본 연구에서 얻어진 결과를 외관 코팅 분야에 응용한다면 장식성과 외관의 경도, 내마모성, 내식성의 향상 등 많은 장점을 가질 것으로 예상된다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2016

Silicon nitride ($SiN_x:H$) films made by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) are generally used as antireflection layers and passivation layers on solar cells. In this study, we investigated the properties of silicon nitride ($SiN_x:H$) films made by PECVD. The passivation properties of $SiN_x:H$ are focused on by making the antireflection properties identical. To make equivalent optical properties of silicon nitride films, the refractive index and thickness of the films are fixed at 2.0 and 90 nm, respectively. This limit makes it easier to evaluate silicon nitride film as a passivation layer in realistic application situations. Next, the effects of the mixture ratio of the process gases with silane ($SiH_4$) and ammonia ($NH_3$) on the passivation qualities of silicon nitride film are evaluated. The absorption coefficient of each film was evaluated by spectrometric ellipsometry, the minority carrier lifetimes were evaluated by quasi-steady-state photo-conductance (QSSPC) measurement. The optical properties were obtained using a UV-visible spectrophotometer. The interface properties were determined by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurement and the film components were identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy detection (RBS) - elastic recoil detection (ERD). In hydrogen passivation, gas ratios of 1:1 and 1:3 show the best surface passivation property among the samples.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.114-121
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• 2014

We report a polysilicon active area membrane field effect transistor (PSAFET) pressure sensor for low stress deflection of membrane. The PSAFET was produced in conventional FET semiconductor fabrication and backside wet etching. The PSAFET located at the front side measured pressure change using 300 nm thin-nitride membrane when a membrane was slightly strained by the small deflection of membrane shape from backside with any physical force. The PSAFET showed high sensitivity around threshold voltage, because threshold voltage variation was composed of fractional function form in sensitivity equation of current variation. When gate voltage was biased close to threshold voltage, a fractional function form had infinite value at $V_{tn}$, which increased the current variation of sensitivity. Threshold voltage effect was dominant right after the PSAFET was turned on. Narrow transistor channel established by small current flow was choked because electron could barely cross drain-source electrodes. When gate voltage was far from threshold voltage, threshold voltage effect converged to zero in fractional form of threshold voltage variations and drain current change was mostly determined by mobility changes. As the PSAFET fabrication was compatible with a polysilicon FET in CMOS fabrication, it could be adapted in low pressure sensor and bio molecular sensor.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.816-820
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• 2013

We investigated the characteristics of the silicon oxy-nitride and nitride films grown by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at the low temperature with a varying $NH_3/N_2O$ mixing ratio and a fixed $SiH_4$ flow rate. The deposition temperature was held at $150^{\circ}C$ which was the temperature compatible with the plastic substrate. The composition and bonding structure of the nitride films were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Nitrogen richness was confirmed with increasing optical band gap and increasing dielectric constant with the higher $NH_3$ fraction. The leakage current density of the nitride films with a high NH3 fraction decreased from $8{\times}10^{-9}$ to $9{\times}10^{-11}(A/cm^2$ at 1.5 MV/cm). This results showed that the films had improved electrical properties and could be acceptable as a gate insulator for thin film transistors by deposited with variable $NH_3/N_2O$ mixing 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.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.141-145
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• 2004

Silicon nitride thin films were deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique in a batch-type reactor by alternating exposures of precursors. XJAKO200414714156408$_4$ or$ SiH_2$$Cl_2$ was used as the Si precursor, $NH_3$ was used as the N precursor, and the deposited films were characterized comparatively. The thickness of the film linearly increased with the number of deposition cycles, so that the thickness of the film can be precisely controlled by adjusting the number of cycles. As compared with the deposition using$ SiCl_4$, the deposition using $SiH_2$$Cl_2$ exhibited larger deposition rate at lower precursor exposures, and the deposited films using $SiH_2$$Cl_2$ had lower wet etch rate in a diluted HF solution. Silicon nitride films with the Si:N ratio of approximately 1:1 were obtained using either Si precursors at $500^{\circ}C$, however, the films deposited using $SiH_2$$Cl_2$ exhibited higher concentration of H as compared with those of the $SiC_4$ case. Silicon nitride thin films deposited by ALD showed similar physical properties, such as composition or integrity, with the silicon nitride films deposited by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition, lowering deposition temperature by more than $200^{\circ}C$.