• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.826-830
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• 2013

In this paper, we carried out the investigations of both etch characteristics and mechanisms for the $SnO_2$ thin films in $O_2/BCl_3/Ar$ plasma. The dry etching characteristics of the $SnO_2$ thin films was studied by varying the $O_2/BCl_3/Ar$ gas mixing ratio. We determined the optimized process conditions that were as follows: a RF power of 700 W, a DC-bias voltage of - 150 V, and a process pressure of 2 Pa. The maximum etch rate was 509.9 nm/min in $O_2/BCl_3/Ar$=(3:4:16 sccm) plasma. From XPS analysis, the etch mechanism of the $SnO_2$ thin films in the $O_2/BCl_3/Ar$ plasma can be identified as the ion-assisted chemical reaction while the role of ion bombardment includes the destruction of the metal-oxide bonds as well as the cleaning of the etched surface form the reaction products.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.164-165
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• 2005

The dry etch characteristics of GaAs over both AlGaAs and InGaP in planar inductively coupled $BCl_3$-based plasmas(ICP) with additions of $SF_6$ or $CF_4$ were studied. The additions of flourine gases provided enhanced etch selectivities of GaAs/AlGaAs and GaAs/InGaP. The etch stop reaction involving formation of involatile $AlF_3$ and $InF_3$ (boiling points of etch products: $AlF_3\sim1300^{\circ}C$, $InF_3$ > $1200^{\circ}C$ at atmosphere) were found to be effective under high density inductively coupled plasma condition. Decrease of etch rates of all materials was probably due to strong increase of flourine atoms in the discharge, which blocked the surface of the material against chlorine neutral adsorption. The process parameters were ICP source power (0 - 500 W), RF chuck power (0 - 30 W) and variable gas composition. The process results were characterized in terms of etch rate, selectivities of GaAs over AlGaAs and InGaP, surface morphology, surface roughness and residues after etching.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.29-32
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• 2000

Cerium oxide thin film has been proposed as a buffer layer between the ferroelectric film and the Si substrate in Metal-Ferroelectric-Insulator-Silicon (MFIS ) structures for ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) applications. In this study, CeO$_2$thin films were etched with Cl$_2$/Ar gas combination in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The highest etch rate of CeO$_2$film is 230 $\AA$/min at Cl$_2$/(Cl$_2$+Ar) gas mixing ratio of 0.2. This result confirms that CeO$_2$thin film is dominantly etched by Ar ions bombardment and is assisted by chemical reaction of Cl radicals. The selectivity of CeO$_2$to YMnO$_3$was 1.83. As a XPS analysis, the surface of etched CeO$_2$thin films was existed in Ce-Cl bond by chemical reaction between Ce and Cl. The results of XPS analysis were confirmed by SIMS analysis. The existence of Ce-Cl bonding was proven at 176.15 (a.m.u.).

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.519-524
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• 2003

Porous carbon with high surface area and pore volume was prepared by a reverse replication process and its toluene equilibrium adsorption behavior was investigated. The preparation process of the porous carbon was composed of fellowing sub-processes in series: synthesis and template preparation of silica gel, impregnation and polymerization of DVB monomer in silica template, carbonization of DVB polymer in a silica-polymer composite, and HF-assisted selective etching of silica in carbon-silica composite. The prepared porous carbon was nano porous and had ultrahigh specific surface area (2007 ㎡/g) and large pore volume (3.07 ㎤/g). The nanoporous carbon showed rapid toluene adsorption rate and good toluene adsorption capacity, compared with a commercial Y-type zeolite. In the present study, a reverse replication process to prepare nanoporous carbons will be introduced and its application potential as a gas adsorbent will be discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics D
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• v.34D no.3
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• pp.87-92
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• 1997

Inductively coupled Cl$_{2}$ plasma has been studied to etch Pt thin films, which hardly form volatile compound with any reactive gas at normal process temperature. Low etch rate and residue problems are frequently observed. For higher etch rate, high density plasma and higher process temperature is adopted observed. For higher etch rate, high density plasma and higher process temperature is adopted and thus SiO$_{2}$ is used as for patterning mask instead of photoresist. The effect of O$_{2}$ or Ar addition to Cl$_{2}$ was investigated, and the chamber pressure, gas flow rate, surce RF power and bias RF power are also varied to check their effects on etch rate and selectivity. The major etching mechanism is the physical sputtering, but the ion assisted chemical raction is also found to be a big factor. The proposs can be optimized to obtain the etch rate of Pt up to 200nm/min and selectivity to SiO$_{2}$ at 2.0 or more. Patterning of submicron Pt lines are successfully demonstrated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.29-32
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• 2000

Cerium oxide thin film has been proposed as a buffer layer between the ferroelectric film and the Si substrate in Metal-Ferroelectric-Insulator-Silicon (MFIS ) structures for ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) applications. In this study, CeO$_2$ thin films were etched with Cl$_2$/Ar gas combination in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The highest etch rate of CeO$_2$ film is 230 $\AA$/min at Cl$_2$/(Cl$_2$+Ar) gas mixing ratio of 0.2. This result confirms that CeO$_2$ thin film is dominantly etched by Ar ions bombardment and is assisted by chemical reaction of Cl radicals. The selectivity of CeO$_2$ to YMnO$_3$ was 1.83. As a XPS analysis, the surface of etched CeO$_2$ thin films was existed in Ce-Cl bond by chemical reaction between Ce and Cl. The results of XPS analysis were confirmed by SIMS analysis. The existence of Ce-Cl bonding was proven at 176.15 (a.m.u.).

• ETRI Journal
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.383-393
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• 2008

The etching mechanism of $ZrO_2$ thin films and etch selectivity over some materials in both $BCl_3$/Ar and $BCl_3/CHF_3$/Ar plasmas are investigated using a combination of experimental and modeling methods. To obtain the data on plasma composition and fluxes of active species, global (0-dimensional) plasma models are developed with Langmuir probe diagnostics data. In $BCl_3$/Ar plasma, changes in gas mixing ratio result in non-linear changes of both densities and fluxes for Cl, $BCl_2$, and ${BCl_2}^+$. In this work, it is shown that the non-monotonic behavior of the $ZrO_2$ etch rate as a function of the $BCl_3$/Ar mixing ratio could be related to the ion-assisted etch mechanism and the ion-flux-limited etch regime. The addition of up to 33% $CHF_3$ to the $BCl_3$-rich $BCl_3$Ar plasma does not influence the $ZrO_2$ etch rate, but it non-monotonically changes the etch rates of both Si and $SiO_2$. The last effect can probably be associated with the corresponding behavior of the F atom density.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.449-453
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• 2003

Ferroelectric YMnO$_3$ thin films were etched with Ar/Cl$_2$ and CF$_4$/Cl$_2$ inductively 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 DE 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 etched by chemical reactions with Cl radicals 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 YF$_{x}$ 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 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.s.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.23 no.10
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• pp.747-751
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• 2010

In the study, the characteristics of the etched Zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films surface, the etch rate of ZnO thin film in $Cl_2/BCl_3/Ar$ plasma was investigated. The maximum ZnO etch rate of 53 nm/min was obtained for $Cl_2/BCl_3/Ar$=3:16:4 sccm gas mixture. According to the x-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), the etched ZnO thin film was investigated to the chemical reaction of the ZnO surface in $Cl_2/BCl_3/Ar$ plasma. The field emission auger electron spectroscopy (FE-AES) analysis showed an elemental analysis from the etched surfaces. According to the etching time, the ZnO thin film of etched was obtained to The AES depth-profile analysis. We used to atomic force microscopy to determine the roughness of the surface. So, the root mean square of ZnO thin film was 17.02 in $Cl_2/BCl_3/Ar$ plasma. Based on these data, the ion-assisted chemical reaction was proposed as the main etch mechanism for the plasmas.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.379-384
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• 2013

In order to produce size-controllable Ag nanoparticles and a nanomesh-patterned Si substrate, we introduce a rapid thermal annealing(RTA) method and a metal assisted chemical etching(MCE) process. Ag nanoparticles were self-organized from a thin Ag film on a Si substrate through the RTA process. The mean diameter of the nanoparticles was modulated by changing the thickness of the Ag film. Furthermore, we controlled the surface energy of the Si substrate by changing the Ar or $H_2$ ambient gas during the RTA process, and the modified surface energy was evaluated through water contact angle test. A smaller mean diameter of Ag nanoparticles was obtained under $H_2$ gas at RTA, compared to that under Ar, from the same thickness of Ag thin film. This result was observed by SEM and summarized by statistical analysis. The mechanism of this result was determined by the surface energy change caused by the chemical reaction between the Si substrate and $H_2$. The change of the surface energy affected on uniformity in the MCE process using Ag nanoparticles as catalyst. The nanoparticles formed under ambient Ar, having high surface energy, randomly moved in the lateral direction on the substrate even though the etching solution consisting of 10 % HF and 0.12 % $H_2O_2$ was cooled down to $-20^{\circ}C$ to minimize thermal energy, which could act as the driving force of movement. On the other hand, the nanoparticles thermally treated under ambient $H_2$ had low surface energy as the surface of the Si substrate reacted with $H_2$. That's why the Ag nanoparticles could keep their pattern and vertically etch the Si substrate during MCE.