• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.132-132
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• 2010

In the nano-scale Si processing, patterning processes based on multilevel resist structures becoming more critical due to continuously decreasing resist thickness and feature size. In particular, highly selective etching of the first dielectric layer with resist patterns are great importance. In this work, process window for the infinitely high etch selectivity of silicon oxynitride (SiON) layers and silicon nitride (Si3N4) with EUV resist was investigated during etching of SiON/EUV resist and Si3N4/EUV resist in a CH2F2/N2/Ar dual-frequency superimposed capacitive coupled plasma (DFS-CCP) by varying the process parameters, such as the CH2F2 and N2 flow ratio and low-frequency source power (PLF). It was found that the CH2F2/N2 flow ratio was found to play a critical role in determining the process window for ultra high etch selectivity, due to the differences in change of the degree of polymerization on SiON, Si3N4, and EUV resist. Control of N2 flow ratio gave the possibility of obtaining the ultra high etch selectivity by keeping the steady-state hydrofluorocarbon layer thickness thin on the SiON and Si3N4 surface due to effective formation of HCN etch by-products and, in turn, in continuous SiON and Si3N4 etching, while the hydrofluorocarbon layer is deposited on the EUV resist surface.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.142-146
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• 2006

A novel internal-type linear inductive antenna, which we refer to as a double comb-type antenna, was developed for a large-area plasma source with substrate size of $880\;mm{\times}660\;mm$ ($4^{th}$ generation glass size). In this study, effect of plasma confinement by applying multi-polar magnetic field was investigated. High density plasmas of the order of $3.18{\times}10^{11}\;cm^{-3}$ could be obtained with a pressure of 15 mTorr Ar at an inductive power of 5000 W with good plasma stability. This plasma density is higher than that obtained for the conventional double comb-type antenna, possibly due to the plasma confinement, low rf voltage, resulting in high power transfer efficiency. Also, due to the remarkable reduction in the antenna rf voltage and length, a plasma uniformity of less than 3% could be obtained within a substrate area of $880\;mm{\times}660\;mm$ as rf power increased.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.265-272
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• 2012

Okamoto cavity was modified to generate high power (2.45 GHz, 2 kW) He, N2 and Ar plasmas with WR-340 waveguide. Many factors which influence to the plasma generation were optimized and investigated for the spectroscopic properties of the He plasma generated. Some of the important factors are the diameter of the inner conductor, the distance between the inner and outer conductors and the distance between the tip of the inner conductor and the torch. After optimization for the He, two torches (a commercial mini torch for ICP and a tangential flow torch made locally) were compared and showed similar results for the helium plasma gas flow of 25 L/min~30 L/min. A tall torch (extended) was used to block the air in-flow and reduced the background intensity at 340 nm region (NH band). Emission intensity was measured for determination of halogen element in the aqueous solution with power and carrier gas flow rate. Electron number density and the excitation temperature were on the order of $3.67{\times}10^{11}/cm^3$ and 4,350 K, respectively. These values are similar or a bit smaller than other microwave plasmas. It has been possible to analyze aqueous samples. The detection limit for Cl (479.45 nm) was obtained to be 116 mg/L and needs analytical optimization for the better performance.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.168-174
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• 2013

In this study, low-cost, high-speed deposition, excellent processability, high mechanical strength and electrical conductivity, chemical stability and corrosion resistance of stainless steel to meet the obsessive-compulsive (0.1 mm or less) were selected CrN thin film. new price reduction to sputter deposition causes - the possibility of sublimation source for inductively coupled plasma Cr rods were attempts by DC bias. 0.6 Pa Ar inductively coupled plasmas of 2.4 MHz, 500 W, keeping Cr Rod DC bias power 30 W (900 V, 0.02 A) is applied, $N_2$ flow rate of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 sccm by varying the characteristics of were analyzed. $N_2$ flow rate increases, decreases and $Cr_2N$, CrN was found to increase. In addition to corrosion resistance and contact resistance, corrosion resistance, electrical conductivity was evaluated. corrosion current density than $N_2$ 0 sccm was sure to rise in all, $N_2$ 1 sccm at $4.390{\times}10^{-7}$ (at 0.6 V) $A{\cdot}cm^{-2}$, respectively. electrical conductivity process results when $N_2$ 1 sccm 28.8 $m{\Omega}/cm^2$ with the lowest value of the contact resistance was confirmed that came out. The OES (SQ-2000) and QMS (CPM-300) using a reactive deposition process to add $N_2$ to maintain a uniform deposition rate was confirmed that.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.285-285
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• 2011

EUVL (Extreme Ultra Violet Lithography) is one of competitive lithographic technologies for sub-30nm fabrication of nano-scale Si devices that can possibly replace the conventional photolithography used to make today's microcircuits. Among the core EUVL technologies, mask fabrication is of considerable importance since the use of new reflective optics having a completely different configuration compared to those of conventional photolithography. Therefore new materials and new mask fabrication process are required for high performance EUVL mask fabrication. This study investigated the etching properties of SnO2 (Tin Oxide) as a new absorber material for EUVL binary mask. The EUVL mask structure used for etching is SnO2 (absorber layer) / Ru (capping / etch stop layer) / Mo-Si multilayer (reflective layer) / Si (substrate). Since the Ru etch stop layer should not be etched, infinitely high selectivity of SnO2 layer to Ru ESL is required. To obtain infinitely high etch selectivity and very low LER (line edge roughness) values, etch parameters of gas flow ratio, top electrode power, dc self - bias voltage (Vdc), and etch time were varied in inductively coupled Cl2/Ar plasmas. For certain process window, infinitely high etch selectivity of SnO2 to Ru ESL could be obtained by optimizing the process parameters. Etch characteristics were measured by on scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses. Detailed mechanisms for ultra-high etch selectivity will be discussed.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.48-53
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• 1987

The manganous sulphate bath method is widely used for measurements of neutron source strength. In this study, the analytical chemistry method based on the argon supported inductively coupled plasmas emission spectrometry was used for examining the impurity contents of domestic $MnSO_4{\cdot}H_2O$ the product of Chemical Industry, to induce $^{55}Mn(n,{\gamma})^{56}$ Mn reactions. From the analytical results, mainly potassium, cobalt, and zinc as well as trace amounts of cadmium, lithium, etc. have turned out to be the relevant impurities absorbing the neutrons, and the fraction of neutrons absorbed by the total impurities was calculated. The value obtained was about 1.37% of the neutrons captured by manganese.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.448-448
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• 2010

Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) has made a prominent progress in memory performance and has brought a bright prospect for the next generation nonvolatile memory technologies due to its excellent advantages. Dry etching process of magnetic thin films is one of the important issues for the magnetic devices such as magnetic tunneling junctions (MTJs) based MRAM. CoFeB is a well-known soft ferromagnetic material, of particular interest for magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) and other devices based on tunneling magneto-resistance (TMR), such as spin-transfer-torque MRAM. One particular example is the CoFeB - MgO - CoFeB system, which has already been integrated in MRAM. In all of these applications, knowledge of control over the etching properties of CoFeB is crucial. Recently, transferring the pattern by using milling is a commonly used, although the redeposition of back-sputtered etch products on the sidewalls and the low etch rate of this method are main disadvantages. So the other method which has reported about much higher etch rates of >$50{\AA}/s$ for magnetic multi-layer structures using $Cl_2$/Ar plasmas is proposed. However, the chlorinated etch residues on the sidewalls of the etched features tend to severely corrode the magnetic material. Besides avoiding corrosion, during etching facets format the sidewalls of the mask due to physical sputtering of the mask material. Therefore, in this work, magnetic material such as CoFeB was etched in an ICP etching system using the gases which can be expected to form volatile metallo-organic compounds. As the gases, carbon monoxide (CO) and ammonia ($NH_3$) were used as etching gases to form carbonyl volatiles, and the etched features of CoFeB thin films under by Ta masking material were observed with electron microscopy to confirm etched resolution. And the etch conditions such as bias power, gas combination flow, process pressure, and source power were varied to find out and control the properties of magnetic layer during the process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.80-81
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• 2012

Recently, one of the critical issues in the etching processes of the nanoscale devices is to achieve ultra-high aspect ratio contact (UHARC) profile without anomalous behaviors such as sidewall bowing, and twisting profile. To achieve this goal, the fluorocarbon plasmas with major advantage of the sidewall passivation have been used commonly with numerous additives to obtain the ideal etch profiles. However, they still suffer from formidable challenges such as tight limits of sidewall bowing and controlling the randomly distorted features in nanoscale etching profile. Furthermore, the absence of the available plasma simulation tools has made it difficult to develop revolutionary technologies to overcome these process limitations, including novel plasma chemistries, and plasma sources. As an effort to address these issues, we performed a fluorocarbon surface kinetic modeling based on the experimental plasma diagnostic data for silicon dioxide etching process under inductively coupled C4F6/Ar/O2 plasmas. For this work, the SiO2 etch rates were investigated with bulk plasma diagnostics tools such as Langmuir probe, cutoff probe and Quadruple Mass Spectrometer (QMS). The surface chemistries of the etched samples were measured by X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer. To measure plasma parameters, the self-cleaned RF Langmuir probe was used for polymer deposition environment on the probe tip and double-checked by the cutoff probe which was known to be a precise plasma diagnostic tool for the electron density measurement. In addition, neutral and ion fluxes from bulk plasma were monitored with appearance methods using QMS signal. Based on these experimental data, we proposed a phenomenological, and realistic two-layer surface reaction model of SiO2 etch process under the overlying polymer passivation layer, considering material balance of deposition and etching through steady-state fluorocarbon layer. The predicted surface reaction modeling results showed good agreement with the experimental data. With the above studies of plasma surface reaction, we have developed a 3D topography simulator using the multi-layer level set algorithm and new memory saving technique, which is suitable in 3D UHARC etch simulation. Ballistic transports of neutral and ion species inside feature profile was considered by deterministic and Monte Carlo methods, respectively. In case of ultra-high aspect ratio contact hole etching, it is already well-known that the huge computational burden is required for realistic consideration of these ballistic transports. To address this issue, the related computational codes were efficiently parallelized for GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) computing, so that the total computation time could be improved more than few hundred times compared to the serial version. Finally, the 3D topography simulator was integrated with ballistic transport module and etch reaction model. Realistic etch-profile simulations with consideration of the sidewall polymer passivation layer were demonstrated.