• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.408-408
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• 2012

It is well known that magnetic random access memory (MRAM) is nonvolatile memory devices using ferromagnetic materials. MRAM has the merits such as fast access time, unlimited read/write endurance and nonvolatility. Although DRAM has many advantages containing high storage density, fast access time and low power consumption, it becomes volatile when the power is turned off. Owing to the attractive advantages of MRAM, MRAM is being spotlighted as an alternative device in the future. MRAM consists of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack and complementary metal- oxide semiconductor (CMOS). MTJ stacks are composed of various magnetic materials. FePt thin films are used as a pinned layer of MTJ stack. Up to date, an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICPRIE) method of MTJ stacks showed better results in terms of etch rate and etch profile than any other methods such as ion milling, chemical assisted ion etching (CAIE), reactive ion etching (RIE). In order to improve etch profiles without redepositon, a better etching process of MTJ stack needs to be developed by using different etch gases and etch parameters. In this research, influences of $O_2$ gas on the etching characteristics of FePt thin films were investigated. FePt thin films were etched using ICPRIE in $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mix. The etch rate and the etch selectivity were investigated in various $O_2$ concentrations. The etch profiles were studied in varying etch parameters such as coil rf power, dc-bias voltage, and gas pressure. TiN was employed as a hard mask. For observation etch profiles, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) was used.

• 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.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.390-390
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• 2012

Information technology industries has grown rapidly and demanded alternative memories for the next generation. The most popular random access memory, dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), has many advantages as a memory, but it could not meet the demands from the current of developed industries. One of highlighted alternative memories is magnetic random-access memory (MRAM). It has many advantages like low power consumption, huge storage, high operating speed, and non-volatile properties. MRAM consists of magnetic-tunnel-junction (MTJ) stack which is a key part of it and has various magnetic thin films like CoFeB, FePt, IrMn, and so on. Each magnetic thin film is difficult to be etched without any damages and react with chemical species in plasma. For improving the etching process, a high density plasma etching process was employed. Moreover, the previous etching gases were highly corrosive and dangerous. Therefore, the safety etching gases are needed to be developed. In this research, the etch characteristics of CoFeB magnetic thin films were studied by using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching in $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mixes. TiN thin films were used as a hardmask on CoFeB thin films. The concentrations of $O_2$ in $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mix were varied, and then, the rf coil power, gas pressure, and dc-bias voltage. The etch rates and the selectivity were obtained by a surface profiler and the etch profiles were observed by a field emission scanning electron microscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was employed to reveal the etch mechanism.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.317-321
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• 2002

Piezoelectric properties of $(Pb_{1-x}Y_x)[(Ni_{1/3}Nb_{2/3})_{0.15}(Zr_{1/2}Ti_{1/2)})_{0.85}]O_{3}$ (x=0~0.05) ceramics were investigated, The stoichiometric PNN-PZT ceramics required the sintering temperature above $1100^{\circ}C$, but the addition of $Y_{2}O_{3}$ in the PNN-PZT ceramic lowered the sintering temperature down to $1000^{\circ}C$. In case of x=0.005, the electro-mechanical coupling $factor(K_p)$, the piezoelectric $constant(d_{33})$, and the maximum strain ratio of PNN-PZT ceramics sintered at $1000^{\circ}C$ were 53.1%, 395pC/N, and $2200{\times}10^{-6}$ respectively, A 30-layer piezoelectric actuator$(10{\times}10{\times}1.7mm)$ fabricated with the above material showed the maximum strain of $2.09{\mu}m$ under 100V DC bias.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.159-162
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• 2002

Ferroelectric $YMnO_{3}$ thin films were etched with $Ar/Cl_{2}$ and $CF_{4}/Cl_{2}$ inductivly coupled plasma (ICP). The maximum etch rate of $YMnO_{3}$ thin film was $300{\AA}/min$ at a $Ar/Cl_{2}$ gas mixing ratio of 2/8, a RF power of 800 W, a dc bias of 200 V, a chamber pressure of 15 mTorr, and a substrate temperature of ${30^{\circ}C}$. From the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis ， yttrium not only etched by chemical reactions with Cl radicals, but also assisted by Ar ion bombardments in $Ar/Cl_{2}$ plasma. In $CF_{4}/Cl_{2}$ plasma, yttrium are remained on the etched surface of $YMnO_{3}$ and formed of nonvolatile YFx compounds Manganese etched effectively by chemical reactions with Cl and F radicals. From the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, the (0004) diffraction peak intensity of the $YMnO_{3}$ thin film etched in $Ar/Cl_{2}$ plasma shows lower value than that in $CF_{4}/Cl_{2}$ plasma. It is indicates that the crystallinty of $YMnO_{3}$ thin film is more easily damaged by the Ar ion bombardment than the changes of stoichiometry due to nonvolatile etch by-products.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.190-194
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• 2002

In this study, the etching of Au thin films have been performed in an inductively coupled CF4/Cl2/Ar plasma. The etch properties were measured as the CF4 adds from 0 % to 30 % to the Cl2/(Cl2 + Ar) gas mixing ratio of 0.2. Other parameters were fixed at a rf power of 700 W, a dc bias voltage of 150 V, a chamber pressure of 15 mTorr, and a substrate temperature of $30^{\circ}C$. The highest etch rate of the Au thin film was 370 nm/min at a 10 % additive CF4 into Cl2/(Cl2 + Ar) gas mixing ratio of 0.2. The surface reaction of the etched Au thin films was investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. From x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, the intensities of Au peaks are changed. There is a chemical reaction between Cl and Au. Au-Cl is hard to remove on the surface because of its high melting point and the etching products can be sputtered by Ar ion bombardment. We obtained the cleaned and steep profile.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.297-302
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• 2015

Nanocrystalline diamond(NCD) coated aluminium plates were prepared and applied as heat sinks for LED modules. NCD films were deposited on 1 mm thick Al plates for times of 2 - 10 h in a microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition reactor. Deposition parameters were the microwave power of 1.2 kW, the working pressure of 90 Torr, the $CH_4/Ar$ gas ratio of 2/200 sccm. In order to enhance diamond nucleation, DC bias voltage of -90 V was applied to the substrate during deposition without external heating. NCD film was identified by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The Al plates with about 300 nm thick NCD film were attached to LED modules and thermal analysis was carried out using Thermal Transient Tester (T3ster) in a still air box. Thermal resistance of the module with NCD/Al plate was 3.88 K/W while that with Al plate was 5.55 K/W. The smaller the thermal resistance, the better the heat emission. From structure function analysis, the differences between junction and ambient temperatures were $12.1^{\circ}C$ for NCD/Al plate and $15.5^{\circ}C$ for Al plate. The hot spot size of infrared images was larger on NCD/Al than Al plate for a given period of LED operation. In conclusion, NCD coated Al plate exhibited better thermal spreading performance than conventional Al heat sink.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.211-220
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• 2002

This study characterizes an oxide etching process in a magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching (MERIE) reactor with a $CHF_3/CF_4$ gas chemistry. We use a statistical $2^{4-1}$ experimental design plus one center point to characterize the relationships between the process factors and etch responses. The factors that we varied in the design include RF power, pressure, and gas composition, and the modeled etch responses were the etch rate, etch selectivity to TiN, and uniformity. The developed models produced 3D response plots. Etching of $SiO_2$ mainly depends on F density and ion bombardment. $SiO_2$ etch selectivity to TiN sensitively depends on the F density in the plasma and the effects of ion bombardment. The process conditions for a high etch selectivity are a 0.3 to 0.5 $CF_4$ flow ratio and a -600 V to -650 V DC bias voltage according to the process pressure in our experiment. Etching uniformity was improved with an increase in the $CF_4$ flow ratio in the gas mixture, an increase in the source power, and a higher pressure. Our characterization of via etching in a $CHF_3/CF_4$ MERIE using neural networks was successful, economical, and effective. The results provide highly valuable information about etching mechanisms and optimum etching conditions.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Electromagnetic Engineering and Science
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.199-207
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• 2011

A Ku-band low noise amplifier has been designed and fabricated by using 0.25 um SiGe BiCMOS process. The developed Ku-band LNA RFIC which has been designed with hetero-junction bipolar transistor(HBT) in the BiCMOS process have noise figure about 2.0 dB and linear gain over 19 dB in the frequency range from 9 GHz to 14 GHz. Optimization technique for p-tap value and electro-magnetic(EM) simulation technique had been used to overcome the inaccuracy in the PDK provided from the foundry service company and to supply the insufficient inductor library. The finally fabricated low noise amplifier of two fabrication runs has been implemented with the size of $0.65\;mm{\times}0.55\;mm$. The pure amplifier circuit layout with the reduced size of $0.4\;mm{\times}0.4\;mm$ without the input and output RF pads and DC bais pads has been incorporated as low noise amplication stages in the multi-function RFIC for the active phased array antenna of Ku-band satellite VSAT.

• 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.