• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.1-6
• /
• 2017

This study investigated the effect of surface pretreatment, which removes native Cu oxides on Cu seed layer, on subsequent Cu electro-/electroless deposition in Cu interconnection. The native Cu oxides were removed by using citric acid-based solution frequently used in Cu chemical mechanical polishing process and the selective Cu oxide removal was successfully achieved by controlling the solution composition. The characterization of electro-/electrolessly deposited Cu films after the oxide removal was then performed in terms of film resistivity, surface roughness, etc. It was observed that the lowest film resistivity and surface roughness were obtained from the substrate whose native Cu oxides were selectively removed.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.24-27
• /
• 2023

Until now, many research activities have been conducted to commercialize high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wires for electric applications. Most of all researchers have focused on enhancing the piece length, critical current density, mechanical strength, and throughput of HTS wires. Recently, HTS magnet for generating high magnetic field shows degraded performance due to the deformation of HTS wire by high electro-magnetic force. The deformation can be derived from widthwise thickness non-uniformity of HTS wire mainly caused by wet processes such as electro-polishing of metal substrate and electro-plating of copper. Gradient sputtering process is designed to improve the thickness uniformity of HTS wire along the width direction. Copper stabilizing layer is deposited on HTS wire covered with specially designed mask. In order to evaluate the thickness uniformity of HTS wire after gradient sputtering process, the thickness distribution across the width is measured by using the optical microscope. The results show that the gradient deposition process is an effective method for improving the thickness uniformity of HTS wire.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.550-555
• /
• 2007

The effective fracture toughness testing of materials intended for application in Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) devices is required in order to improve understanding of how micro sized material used in device may be expected to perform upon the micro scale. ${\gamma}$-TiAl based materials are being considered for application in MEMS devices at elevated temperatures. Especially, in Alloy 4, both ${\alpha}_2$ and ${\gamma}$ lamellae were altered markedly in 3,000 h, $700^{\circ}C$ exposure. Parallel decomposition of coarse ${\alpha}_2$ into bunches of very fine (${\alpha}_2+{\gamma}$) lamellae. Parallel decomposition of coarse ${\alpha}_2$ into bunches of very fine (${\alpha}_2+{\gamma}$) lamellae. The materials were examined 2 types Alloy 4 on heat exposed specimen($700^{\circ}C$, 3,000 h) and no heat exposed one. Micro sized cantilever beams were prepared mechanical polishing on both side at $25{\sim}30{\mu}m$ and electro final stage polishing to observe lamellar orientation of same colony with EBSD (Electron Backscatter Diffraction Pattern). Through lamellar orientation as inter-lamellae or trans-lamellae, Cantilever beam was fabricated with Focused Ion Beam(FIB). The directional behavior of the lamellar structure was important property in single material, because of the effects of the different processing method and variations in properties according to lamellar orientation. In MEMS application, it is first necessary to have a reliable understanding of the manufacturing methods to be used to produce micro structure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2008.06a
• /
• pp.546-546
• /
• 2008

Copper (Cu) Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) has been an essential process for Cu wifing of DRAM and NAND flash memory beyond 45nm. Copper has been employed as ideal material for interconnect and metal line due to the low resistivity and high resistant to electro-migration. Damascene process is currently used in conjunction with CMP in the fabrication of multi-level copper interconnects for advanced logic and memory devices. Cu CMP involves removal of material by the combination of chemical and mechanical action. Chemicals in slurry aid in material removal by modifying the surface film while abrasion between the particles, pad, and the modified film facilitates mechanical removal. In our research, we emphasized on the role of chemical effect of slurry on Cu CMP, especially on the effect of amine functional group on removal rate selectivity between Cu and Tantalum-nitride (TaN) film. We investigated the two different kinds of complexing agent both with amine functional group. On the one hand, Polyacrylamide as a polymer affected the stability of abrasive, viscosity of slurry and the corrosion current of copper film especially at high concentration. At higher concentration, the aggregation of abrasive particles was suppressed by the steric effect of PAM, thus showed higher fraction of small particle distribution. It also showed a fluctuation behavior of the viscosity of slurry at high shear rate due to transformation of polymer chain. Also, because of forming thick passivation layer on the surface of Cu film, the diffusion of oxidant to the Cu surface was inhibited; therefore, the corrosion current with 0.7wt% PAM was smaller than that without PAM. the polishing rate of Cu film slightly increased up to 0.3wt%, then decreased with increasing of PAM concentration. On the contrary, the polishing rate of TaN film was strongly suppressed and saturated with increasing of PAM concentration at 0.3wt%. We also studied the electrostatic interaction between abrasive particle and Cu/TaN film with different PAM concentration. On the other hand, amino-methyl-propanol (AMP) as a single molecule does not affect the stability, rheological and corrosion behavior of the slurry as the polymer PAM. The polishing behavior of TaN film and selectivity with AMP appeared the similar trend to the slurry with PAM. The polishing behavior of Cu film with AMP, however, was quite different with that of PAM. We assume this difference was originated from different compactness of surface passivation layer on the Cu film under the same concentration due to the different molecular weight of PAM and AMP.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.976-985
• /
• 2002

The purpose of this paper is that the roughness(Rrms = 31$\AA$, Rp-v = 270$\AA$) of ITO thin film deposited by sputtering method for OELD is improved to Rrms $\leq$ 10$\AA$, Rp-v $\leq$ 80$\AA$ by chemical mechanical polishing(CMP). First, ITO thin films are polished with a variety of consumables (Pads, Slurries) to choose proper some for the roughness improvement and the CMP mechanism of ITO thin films is demonstrated on the ground of the experiment results. Henceforth, the CMP characteristics (Removal rate, Non-uniformity) of chosen consumables are evaluated according to processing conditions (Polishing pressures, Table velocities) and suitable conditions for ITO film CMP are selected. Finally, the electrical and optical properties (Sheet resistance, Transmittance) of ITO thin films are investigated to verify whether or not ITO thin film are still suitable for OELD after polished.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.24-29
• /
• 2005

Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) has been widely accepted for the global planarization of multi-layer structures in semiconductor manufacturing. Copper has been the candidate metallization material for ultra-large scale integrated circuits (ULSIs), owing to its excellent electro-migration resistance and low electrical resistance. However, it still has various problems in copper CMP process. Thus, it is important to understand the effect of the process variables such as turntable speed, head speed, down force and back pressure are very important parameters that must be carefully formulated in order to achieve desired the removal rates and non-uniformity. Using a design of experiment (DOE) approach, this study was performed investigating the main effect of the variables and the interaction between the various parameters during CMP. A better understanding of the interaction behavior between the various parameters and the effect on removal rate, non-uniformity and ETC (edge to center) is achieved by using the statistical analysis techniques. In the experimental tests, the optimum parameters which were derived from the statistical analysis could be found for higher removal rate and lower non-uniformity through the above DOE results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2007.11a
• /
• pp.49-49
• /
• 2007

최근 반도체 소자의 고집적화와 나노 (nano) 크기의 회로 선폭으로 인해 기존에 사용되었던 텅스텐이나 알루미늄 금속배선보다, 낮은 전기저항과 높은 electro-migration resistance가 필요한 Cu 금속배선이 주목받게 되었다. 하지만, Cu CMP 공정 시 높은 압력으로 인하여 low-k 유전체막의 손상과 디싱과 에로젼 현상으로 인한 문제점이 발생하게 되었다. 본 논문에서는, $KNO_3$ 전해액의 농도가 Cu 표면에 미치는 영향을 알아보기 위해 Tafel Curve와 CV (cyclic voltammograms)법을 사용하여 전기화학적 특징을 알아보았고 scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD) 분석을 통해 금속표면을 비교 분석하였다.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.319-324
• /
• 2013

In this study, an EP (electro-polishing)-MAP (magnetic abrasive polishing) hybrid process was developed as a precision finishing process. To evaluate the characteristics of this EP-MAP hybrid process, a series of experiments were carried out using various working gaps, current densities, and electrolyte concentrations. As a result, $NaNO_3$ was found to be very suitable as the electrolyte of the hybrid process because there was no electrochemical reaction with the CNT-Co composite. Moreover, an increase in the magnetic flux density affected the liquidity of the electrolyte and prevented it from flowing into the CNT-Co composite powder. For that reason, the lower liquidity of the electrolyte increased the thermal energy on the surface of the workpiece.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.151-156
• /
• 2015

In order to improve the properties of high-temperature superconducting wire for superconducting cable system, we optimized the electro-polishing (EP), ion-beam assisted deposition (IBAD), superconducting (SC) layer, and baking (heat) treatment. The buffer layer was deposited on electro-polished substrate with RMS roughness ($R_{RMS}$) less than 5 nm. The IBAD process was carried out at $V_{beam}$: 1100 V and $V_{accel}$: 850 V that resulted in highly crystalline film of $LaMnO_3$. Chemical composition of SC layer is key to higher critical current, and we found that composition can be determined by surface color of SC layer. We adopt a proprietary contorl system based on RGB analysis of the surface and achieved critical current of 150 A/4 mm-width. The proposed baking treatment resulted in decreasing of about 10% of fraction defects.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2005.07a
• /
• pp.649-650
• /
• 2005

반도체는 고집적화, 고속도화, 저전력화를 목적으로 발전하고 있다. 이를 위하여 design rule의 감소, 새로운 물질과 프로세스의 적용 등 많은 연구가 이루어지고 있으며, RC delay time을 줄이기 위한 Cu 와 저유전율 재료의 적용이 그 대표적인 예라 할 수 있다. Cu 배선은 기존의 Al 배선에 비하여 높은 전자이동 (electro-migration)과 응력 이동 (stress-migration) 저항을 가짐으로써 전기적인 성능 (electrical performance) 에서 이점을 가지고 있다. 반도체에서의 Cu 배선 구조는 평탄화된 표면 및 배선들 사이에서의 좋은 전기적인 절연성을 가져야 하며, 이는 디싱(dishing)과 에로젼(erosion)의 중요한 인자가 된다. 기존의 평탄화 공정인 Cu CMP(Chemical Mechanical Polishing)에 있어서 이러한 디싱, 에로전과 같은 결함은 선결되어져야 할 문제로 인식되고 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 이러한 결합들을 감소시키기 위한 새로운 평탄화 방법으로 Cu gap-filling 을 하는 동시에 평탄화된 표면을 이루는 ECMD(Electro-Chemical Mechanical Deposition) 공정의 전기적 기계적 특성을 파악하였다.