• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.363-367
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• 2004

Recently ZnO epitaxial layers have been widely studied as a semiconductor material for optoelectronic devices. Sapphire and silicon are commonly selected as substrate materials for ZnO epitaxial growth. In this communication, we report the effect of the ECR plasma pretreatment of sapphire and silicon substrates on the nucleation in the ZnO ALE (atomic layer epitaxy). It was found that ECR plasma pretreatment reduces the incubation period of the ZnO nucleation. Oxygen ECR plasma enhances ZnO nucleation most effectively since it increases the hydroxyl group density at the substrate surface. The nucleation enhancing effect of the oxygen ECR plasma treatment is stronger on the sapphire substrate than on the silicon substrate since the saturation density of the hydroxyl group is lower at the sapphire surface than that at the silicon surface.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.601-608
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• 1994

Aluminum oxide thin films were deposited on p-type(100) silicon substrates by electron cyclotron resonance plasma enhanced CVD(ECR-PECVD) using TMA[Al(CH3)3] and oxygen as reactant gases at 16$0^{\circ}C$ or lower temperatures. The aluminum oxide films deposited by ECR-PECVD have the amorphous structure with the refractive index of 1.62~1.64 and the O/Al ratio of 1.6~1.7. Oxygen flow rate necessary for the stable deposition of the aluminum oxide films increases as the deposition temperature increases. It was found from the OES analysis that the ECR plasma had les cooling effect by introducing the TMA reactant gas in comparison with the RF plasma. The properties of aluminum oxide films prepared by ECR-PECVD were compared with those prepared by RF-PECVD. The ECR-PECVD aluminum oxide films have the higher refractive indices, the lower contents of impurities (H and C) and the stronger wet etch resistance than those deposited by RF-PECVD.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.2 s.273
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• pp.94-98
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• 2005

$RuO_2$ is widely studied as a lower electrode material for high dielectric capacitors in DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memories) and FRAM (Ferroelectric Random Access Memories). In this study, the effects of hydrogen, oxygen, and argon Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) plasma pretreatments on deposited by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) $RuO_2$ nucleation was investigated using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) analyses. Argon ECR plasma pretreatment was found to offer the highest $RuO_2$ nucleation density among these three pretreatments. The mechanism through which $RuO_2$ nucleation is enhanced by ECR plasma pretreatment may be that the argon or the hydrogen ECR plasma removes nitrogen and oxygen atoms at the TiN film surface so that the underlying TiN film surface is changed to Ti-rich TiN.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.371-377
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• 1995

Silicon oxide films were grown on single-crystal silicon substrates at low temperatures (25~205$^{\circ}C$) in a low pressure electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) oxygen plasma. The growth rate of the silicon oxide film increased as the temperature increased or the pressure decreased. Also, the thickness of the silicon oxide film increased at negative bias voltage, but not changed at positive bias voltage. The growth law of the silicon oxide film was approximated to the parabolic form. Capacitance-voltage (C-V) and current density-electric field (J-E) characteristics were studied using Al/SiO2/p-Si MOS structures. For a 10.2 nm thick silicon oxide film, the leakage current density at the electric field of 1 MVcm-1 was less than 1.0$\times$10-8Acm-2 and the breakdown field was higher than 10 MVcm-1. The flat band voltage of Al/SiO2/p-Si MOS capacitor was varied in the range of -2~-3 V and the effective dielectric constant was 3.85. These results indicate that high quality oxide films with properties that are similar to those of thermal oxide film can be fastly grown at low temperature using the ECR oxygen plasma.

• Proceedings of the International Microelectronics And Packaging Society Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.123-127
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• 2002

DRAM용 capacitor의 차세대 전극물질 후보 중의 하나인 Ru 박막을 고밀도의 ECR 플라즈마를 이용하여 식각 특성 및 식각 메커니즘을 알아보고자 하였다. 식각시 Ru은 oxygen들과 결합을 하여 RuO2 화합물들을 생성하고 RuO2 화합물들은 다시 oxygen들과 결합을 함으로써 휘발성이 강한 RuOx 화합물들을 생성하였다. 하지만 이러한 식각이 이루어지기 위해서는 oxygen이온들에 의한 충돌이 필요하며, Cl과 F 가스들을 첨가가 의해 충돌 이온의 에너지가 증가되어 RuO2와 O radical들의 반응성을 향상시켰다. 이에 휘발성이 좋은 RuO4들의 형성속도를 증가시킴으로써 식각 속도를 향상시킬 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.32A no.3
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• pp.68-77
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• 1995

Characteristics of electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma thermal oxide grown at low-temperature have been investigated. The effects of several process parameters such as substrate temperature, microwave power, gas flow rate, and process pressure on the growth rate of the oxide have been also investigated. It was found that the plasma density, reactive ion species, is strongly related to the growth rate of ECR plasma oxied. It was also found that the plasma density increases with microwave power while it decreases with decreasing O2 flow rate. The oxidation time dependence of the oxide thichness showed parabolic characteristics. Considering ECR plasma thermal oxidation at low-temperature, the linear as well as parabolic rate constants calculated from fitting data by using the Deal-Grove model was very large in comparison with conventional thermal oxidation. The ECR plasma oxide grown on (100) crystalline-Si wafer exhibited good electrical characteristics which are comparable to those of thermal oxide: fixed oxide charge(N$_{ff}$)= 7${\times}10^{10}cm^{-2}$, interface state density(N$_{it}$)=4${\times}10^[10}cm^{-2}eV^{-1}$, and breakdown field > 8MV/cm.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.212-217
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• 2000

Dielectric thin films for TFT(thin film transistor)s, such as silicon nitride$(Si_3N_4)$ and silicon oxide$(SiO_2)$, are usually deposited at $200~300^{\circ}C$. In this study, authors have tried to form dielectric films not by deposition but by oxidation with ECR(Electron Cyclotron Resonance) oxygen plasma, to improve the interface properties was not intensionally heated during oxidation. THe oxidation was performed consecutively without breaking vacuum after the deposition of a-Si: H films on the substrate to prevent the introduction of impurities. In this study, especially pulse mode of microwave power has been firstly tried during FCR oxygen plasma formation. Compared with the case of the continuous wave mode, the oxidation with the pulsed ECR results in higher quality silicon oxide$SiO_X$ films in terms of stoichiometry of bonding, dielectric constants and surface roughness. Especially the surface roughness of the pulsed ECR oxide films dramatically decreased to one-third of that of the continuous wave mode cases.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.203-210
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• 2004

Effects of various pretreatments on the adhesion of copper-coated polymer films were investigated. Copper-coated polymer films were prepared by an electron cyclotron resonance-metal organic chemical vapor deposition (ECR-MOCVD) coupled with a DC bias system at room temperature. PET(polyethylene terephthalate) film was employed as a substrate material and it was pretreated by industrially feasible methods such as chromic acid, sand-blasting, oxygen plasma and ion-implantation treatment. Surface characterization of the copper-coated polymer film was carried out by AFM(Atomic Force Microscopy) and FESEM(Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy). Surface energy was calculated by based on the value of the contact angle measured. The adhesion of copper/PET films was determined by a pull-off test according to ASTM D-5179. It was found that suitable pretreatment of the PET substrate was required for obtaining good adhesion property between copper films and the substrate. In this study the highest adhesion was observed in sand-blasting, and then followed by those of acid and oxygen plasma treatment. However, the effect of surface energy was insignificant in our experimental range. This is probably due to compensating the difference in surface energy from various pretreatments by exposing substrate to ECR plasma for 5 min or longer at the early stage of the copper deposition. Therefore, it can be concluded that surface roughness of the polymer substrate plays an important role to determine the adhesion of copper-coated polymer for the deposition of copper by ECR-MOCVD.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.563-567
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• 2000

We presented the etch results of indium-tin oxide thin films by using SF$_{6}$/O$_2$gas electron cyclotron resonance plasma and conducted X-ray phtoelectron spectroscopy and quadrupole mass spectrometer analyses for the etch characteristics. The etch rate of the films was greatly dependent on that of oxygen which was the major constituent element of the films. The oxygen was removed by the forms like $O_2$or SOF$_2$. We examined the ratio of atomic content of O and In and the change of this ratio was related to the removal rate of InF$_{x}$ and the S-metal bonding.ing.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.359-361
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• 1998

Visible photoluminescence(PU was observed from hydrogenated amorphous silicon deposited on silicon(a-Si : H/Si) using electron cyclotron resonance plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (ECR- PECVD) with silane ($SiH_{4}$) gas as the reactant source. The PL spectra from a-Si : H/Si were very similar to those from porous silicon. Hydrogen contents of samples annealed under oxygen atmosphere for 2minutes at $500^{\circ}C$ by rapid thermal annealing were reduced to 1~2%, and the samples did not show visible PL, indicating that hydrogen has a very important role in the PL process of a- Si : H/Si. As the thickness of deposited a-Si : H film increased, PL intensity decreased. The visi¬ble PL from a-Si: H deposited on Si by ECR-PECVD with $SiH_{4}$ . is suggested to be from silicon hydrides formed at the interface between the Si substrate and the deposited a-Si : H film during the deposition.