• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.236-243
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• 2004

The oxide etching process was characterized in a magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching (MERIE) reactor with a $CHF_3CF_4$ gas chemistry. A statistical experimental design plus one center point was used to characterize relationships between process factors and etch response. The etch response modeled are etch rate, etch selectivity to TiN and uniformity. Etching uniformity was improved with increasing $CF_4$ flow ratio, increasing source power, and increasing pressure depending on source power. Characterization of via etching in $CHF_3CF_4$ MERIE using neural networks was successfully executed giving to highly valuable information about etching mechanism and optimum etching condition. It was found that etching uniformity was closely related to surface polymerization, DC bias, TiN and uniformity.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.715-718
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• 2008

An in-line wet etch/cleaning system was established for the research and development in wet etch process. The system was equipped with a reverse moving system for the reduction in the size of the in-line wet etch/cleaning system and it was possible for the glass substrate to be moved back and forth and alternated in a wet etch bath. For the comparison of the effect of the normal motion and that of the alternating motion on the in-line wet etch process, indium tin oxide(ITO) pattern was obtained through both wet etch process conditions. The results showed that the alternating motion is not inferior to the normal motion in etch rate and in etch uniformity. It is concluded that the alternating motion is possible to be applied to the in-line etch process.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2004

Dry etch characteristics of polysilicon with HBr/O$_2$ inductively coupled plasma (ICP) have been investigated. We determined etch late, uniformity, etch profiles, and selectivity with analyzing the cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy images obtained from top, center, bottom, right, and left positions. The etch rate of polysilicon was about 2500 $\AA$/min, which meets with the mass production for devices. The wafer level etch uniformity was within $\pm$5 ％. Etch profile showed 90$^{\circ}$ slopes without notches. The selectivity over photoresist was between 2:1∼4.5:1, depending on $O_2$ flow rate. The HBr-ICP etching showed higher PR selectivity, and sharper profile than the conventional Cl$_2$-RIE.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.56-56
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• 1999

For advanced TFT-LCD manufacturing processes, dry etching of thin-film layers(a-Si, $SiN_x$, SID & gate electrodes, ITO etc.) is increasingly preferred instead of conventional wet etching processes. To dry etch Al gate electrode which is advantageous for reducing propagation delay time of scan signals, high etch rate, slope angle control, and etch uniformity are required. For the Al gate electrode, some metals such as Ti and Nd are added in Al to prevent hillocks during post-annealing processes in addition to gaining low-resistivity($<10u{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$), high performance to heat tolerance and corrosion tolerance of Al thin films. In the case of AI-Nd alloy films, however, low etch rate and poor selectivity over photoresist are remained as a problem. In this study, to enhance the etch rates together with etch uniformity of AI-Nd alloys, magnetized inductively coupled plasma(MICP) have been used instead of conventional ICP and the effects of various magnets and processes conditions have been studied. MICP was consisted of fourteen pairs of permanent magnets arranged along the inside of chamber wall and also a Helmholtz type axial electromagnets was located outside the chamber. Gas combinations of $Cl_2,{\;}BCl_3$, and HBr were used with pressures between 5mTorr and 30mTorr, rf-bias voltages from -50Vto -200V, and inductive powers from 400W to 800W. In the case of $Cl_2/BCl_3$ plasma chemistry, the etch rate of AI-Nd films and etch selectivity over photoresist increased with $BCl_3$ rich etch chemistries for both with and without the magnets. The highest etch rate of $1,000{\AA}/min$, however, could be obtained with the magnets(both the multi-dipole magnets and the electromagnets). Under an optimized electromagnetic strength, etch uniformity of less than 5% also could be obtained under the above conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.30A no.7
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• pp.60-74
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• 1993

Experiments of RIE of tungsten films using SF$_{6}$ plasma were conducted to investigate the effect of process parameters on etch rate, uniformity, anisotropy, and selectivity. As power increased, the etch rate increased. Maximum etch rate was obtained at 200mtorr As interelectrode spacing increased the etch rate increased for P < 200mtorr while it decreased for P> 200mtorr. Etch rate was maximum at 20 sccm gas flow rate. As substrate temperature increased, the etch rate increased and activation energy was 0.046 eV. In addition, maximum etch rate was acquired at 20% $O_{2}$ addition. The etch rate slightly increased when Ar was added up to 20% while it continuously decreased when N$_{2}$ was added. Uniformity got improved as pressure decreased and was less than 4% for P <100mtorr. Mass spectrometer was utilized to analyze gas composition and S and F peaks were observed from XPS analysis with increasing power. The anisotropy was better for smaller power and spacing, and lower pressure and temperature. It improved when CH$_{4}$ was added and anisotropic etch profile was obtained when about 10% $O_{2}$ was added. The selectjvity was better for smaller power larger pressure and spacing, and lower temperature. Especially. low temperature processing was proposed as a novel method to improve the anisotropy and selectivity.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.72-77
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• 2021

The radial distribution of etch rate was analyzed using the ion energy flux model in VHF-CCP. In order to exclude the effects of polymer passivation and F radical depletion on the etching. The experiment was performed in Ar/SF6 plasma with an SF6 molar ratio of 80% of operating pressure 10 and 20 mTorr. The radial distribution of Ar/SF6 plasma was diagnosed with RF compensated Langmuir Probe(cLP) and Retarding Field Energy Analyzer(RFEA). The radial distribution of ion energy flux was calculated with Bohm current times the sheath voltage which is determined by the potential difference between the plasma space potential (measured by cLP) and the surface floating potential (by RFEA). To analyze the etch rate uniformity, Si coupon samples were etched under the same condition. The ion energy flux and the etch rate show a close correlation of more than 0.94 of R² value. It means that the etch rate distribution is explained by the ion energy flux.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.46.5-46
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• 2002

As device dimension shrinks down to sub 100nm, it is increasingly important to monitor plasma states. Plasma etching is a key means to fine patterning of thin films. Many parameters are involved in etching and each parameter has different impact on process performances, including etch rate and profile. The uniformity of etch responses should be maintained high to improve device yield and throughput. The uniformity can be measured on any etch response. The most difficulty arises when attempting to characterize etched profile. Conventionally, the profile has been estimated by measuring the slope or angle of etched pattern. One critical drawback in this measurement is that this is unable to cap...

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.32-38
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• 2021

We developed an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etcher for GaN etching using a parallel plasma electrode source with a multifunctional chuck matched to it in order for the low power consumption and low process cost in comparison with the conventional ICP system with a helical-type plasma electrode source. The optimization process condition using it for the micro light-emitting diode (µ-LED) chip fabrication was established, which is an ICP RF power of 300 W, a chuck power of 200 W, a BCl₃/Cl₂ gas ratio of 3:2. Under this condition, the mesa structure with the etch depth over 1 ㎛ and the etch angle over 75° and also with no etching residue was obtained for the µ-LED chip. The developed ICP showed the improved values on the process pressure, the etch selectivity, the etch depth uniformity, the etch angle profile and the substrate temperature uniformity in comparison with the commercial ICP. The µ-LED chip fabricated using the developed ICP showed the similar or improved characteristics in the L-I-V measurements compared with the one fabricated using the conventional ICP method

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.271-275
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• 2008

The MAM(Megasonic Agitated Module) has been fabricated for improving the characteristics of wet etching. The characteristics of the MAM are investigated during the wet etching with and without megasonic agitation in this paper. The adoption of the MAM has improved the characteristics of wet etching, such as the etch rate, etch uniformity, and surface roughness. Especially, the etching uniformity on the entire wafer was less than ${\pm}1%$ in both cases of Si and glass. Generally, the initial root-mean-square roughness($R_{rms}$) of the single crystal silicon was 0.23nm. Roughnesses of 566nm and 66nm have been achieved with magnetic stirring and ultrasonic agitation, respectively, by some researchers. In this paper, the roughness of the etched Si surface is less than 60 nm. Wet etching of silicon with megasonic agitation can maintain nearly the original surface roughness during etching. The results verified that megasonic agitation is an effective way to improve etching characteristics of the etch rate, etch uniformity, and surface roughness and that the developed micromachining system is suitable for the fabrication of devices with complex structures.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.113-118
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• 2002

We developed engineering methods to control gas flow in a plasma reactor in order to achieve good etch depth uniformity for large area GaAs etching. Finite difference numerical method was found quite useful for simulation of gas flow distribution in the reactor for dry etching of GaAs. The experimental results in $BCl_3/N_2/SF_6/He$ ICP plasmas confirmed that the simulated data fitted very well with real data. It is noticed that a focus ring could help improve both gas flow and etch uniformity for 150 mm diameter GaAs plasma etch processing. The simulation results showed that optimization of clamp configuration could decrease gas flow uniformity as low as $\pm$ 1.5% on an 100 mm(4 inch) GaAs wafer and $\pm$ 3% for a 150 m(6 inch) wafer with the fixed reactor and electrode, respectively. Comparison between simulated gas flow uniformity and real etch depth distribution data concluded that control of gas flow distribution in the chamber would be significantly important in order or achieve excellent dry etch uniformity of large area GaAs wafers.