• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.635-639
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• 2003

We investigated dry etching of GaAs and AiGaAs in a high density planar inductively coupled plasma system with BCl$_3$and BCl$_3$/Ar gas chemistry. A detailed etch process study of GaAs and ALGaAs was peformed as functions of ICP source power, RIE chuck power and mixing ratio of $BCl_3$ and Ar. Chamber process pressure was fixed at 7.5 mTorr in this study. The ICP source power and RIE chuck power were varied from 0 to 500 W and from 0 to 150 W, respectively. GaAs etch rate increased with the increase of ICP source power and RIE chuck power. It was also found that etch rates of GaAs in $15BCi_3$/5Ar plasmas were relatively high with applied RIE chuck power compared to pure 20 sccm $BCl_3$plasmas. The result was the same as AlGaAs. We expect that high ion-assisted effect in $BCl_3$/Ar plasma increased etch rates of both materials. The GaAs and AlGaAs features etched at 20 sccm $BCl_3$and $15BCl_3$/5Ar with 300 W ICP source power, 100 W RIE chuck power and 7.5 mTorr showed very smooth surfaces(RMS roughness < 2 nm) and excellent sidewall. XPS study on the surfaces of processed GaAs also proved extremely clean surfaces of the materials after dry etching.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.245-246
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• 2011

Emission lines ratios were used for diagnostics of and excited level densities in low-temperature plasmas. In this work, an optical emission spectroscopy (OES) was used to determine the electron temperature and metastable level densities in low-pressure inductively coupled plasma. The emission spectroscopy method was based on a simple collisional-radiative model. The selected lines of the Ar(4p to 4s) were influenced by the radiation trapping at relatively high pressures where the plasma become optically thick. To quantify this effect, a pressure dependence factor ${\alpha}$(P) was derived by using corrections for the measured intensities. It was found that the lower metastable level densities were obtained when ${\alpha}$(P) increased with the increasing discharge pressure. The effect of non-Maxwellian electron energy distribution functions (EEDFs) on the metastables was also presented and discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.96-96
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• 2016

Nanotechnology mostly employs nano-materials and nano-structures with distinctive properties based on their size, structure, and composition. It is quite difficult to produce nano-materials and nano-structures with identical sizes, structures, and compositions in large quantities, because of spatiotemporal fluctuation of production processes. In other words, fluctuation is the bottleneck in nanotechnology. We propose three strategies to suppress such fluctuations: employing 1) difference between linear and nonlinear phenomena, 2) difference in time constants, and 3) nucleation as a bottleneck phenomenon. We are also developing nano- and micro-scale guided assembly using plasmas as a plasma nanofabrication.1-5) We manipulate nano- and micro-objects using electrostatic, electromagnetic, ion drag, neutral drag, and optical forces. The accuracy of positioning the objects depends on fluctuation of position and energy of an object in plasmas. Here we evaluate such fluctuations and discuss the mechanism behind them. We conducted in-situ evaluation of local plasma potential fluctuation using tracking analysis of fine particles (=objects) in plasmas. Experiments were carried out with a radio frequency low-pressure plasma reactor, where we set two quartz windows at the top and bottom of the reactor. Ar plasmas were generated at 200 Pa by applying 13.56MHz, 450V peak-to-peak voltage. The injected fine particles were monodisperse methyl methacrylate-polymer spheres of $10{\mu}m$ in diameter. Fine particles were injected into the reactor and were suspended around the plasma/sheath boundary near the powered electrode. We observed binary collision of fine particles with a high-speed camera. The frame rate was 1000-10000 fps. Time evolution of their distance from the center of mass was measured by tracking analysis of the two particles. Kinetic energy during the collision was obtained from the result. Potential energy formed between the two particles was deduced by assuming the potential energy plus the kinetic energy is constant. The interaction potential is fluctuated during the collision. Maximum amplitude of the fluctuation is 25eV, and the average is 8eV. The fluctuation can be caused by neutral molecule collisions, ion collisions, and fluctuation of electrostatic force. Among theses possible causes, fluctuation of electrostatic force may be main one, because the fine particle has a large negative charge of -17000e and the corresponding electrostatic force is large compared to other forces.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.218.1-218.1
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• 2014

In order to measure the absolute plasma density, various probes are proposed and investigated and microwave probes are widely used for its advantages (Insensitivity to thin non-conducting material deposited by processing plasmas, High reliability, Simple process for determination of plasma density, no complicate assumptions and so forth). There are representative microwave probes such as the cutoff probe, the hairpin probe, the impedance probe, the absorption probe and the plasma transmission probe. These probes utilize the microwave interactions with the plasma-sheath and inserted structure (probe), but frequency range used by each probe and specific mechanisms for determining the plasma density for each probe are different. In the recent studies, behaviors of each microwave probe with respect to the plasma parameters of the plasma density, the pressure (the collision frequency), and the sheath width is abundant and reasonably investigated, whereas relative diagnostic characteristics of the probes by a comparative study is insufficient in spite of importance for comprehensive applications of the probes. However, experimental comparative study suffers from spatially different plasma characteristics in the same discharge chamber, a low-reproducibility of ignited plasma for an uncertainty in external discharge parameters (the power, the pressure, the flow rate and so forth), impossibility of independently control of the density, the pressure, and the sheath width as well as expensive and complicate experimental setup. In this paper, various microwave probes are simulated by finite-different time-domain simulation and the error between the input plasma density in FDTD simulations and the measured that by the unique microwave spectrums of each probe is obtained under possible conditions of plasma density, pressure, and sheath width for general low-temperature plasmas. This result shows that the each probe has an optimum applicable plasma condition and reliability of plasma density measurement using the microwave probes can be improved by the complementary use of each probe.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.136.1-136.1
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• 2015

In the present study, UHF (320 MHz) in combination with RF (13.56 MHz) plasmas was used for the synthesis of hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiNx:H) films by PECVD process at low temperature. RF/UHF hybrid plasmas were maintained at a fixed pressure of 410 mTorr in the N2/SiH4 and N2/SiH4/NH3 atmospheres. To investigate the radical generation and plasma formation and their control for the growth of the film, plasma diagnostic tools like vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy (VUVAS), optical emission spectroscopy (OES), and RF compensated Langmuir probe (LP) were utilized. Utilization of RF/UHF hybrid plasmas enables very high plasma densities ~ 1011 cm-3 with low electron temperature. Measurements using VUVAS reveal the UHF source is quite effective in the dissociation of the N2 gas to generate more active atomic N. It results in the enhancement of the Si-N bond concentration in the film. Consequently, the deposition rate has been significantly improved up to 2nm/s for the high rate synthesis of highly transparent (up to 90 %) SiNx:H film. The films properties such as optical transmittance and chemical composition are investigated using different analysis tools.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2009.07a
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• pp.1362_1363
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• 2009

In this study, we predicted the thermal breakdown of high-voltage interrupter with the characteristics of thermal plasmas such as temperature, pressure and concentration of the ablated material by using a commercial CFD program. The results showed that the pressure build-up inside the chamber was proportional to the magnitude of arcing current because the quantities of heat energy and ablated mass also increase together with the current during the compression process. And during the decompression process, the reverse flow was not coincided with the magnitude of the applied current due to the compressibility of the gas through backflow channel. The present method is expected to be useful for the design of guideline and interruption capacity on the thermal breakdown of a PASB chamber.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.255.2-255.2
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• 2014

Electrode erosion is indispensable for atmospheric plasma systems, as well as for switching devices, due to the high heat flux transferred from arc plasmas to contacts, but experimental and theoretical works have not identified the characteristic phenomena because of the complex physical processes. Our investigation is concerned with argon free-burning arcs with anode erosion at atmospheric pressure by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. We are also interested in the energy flux and temperature transferring to the anode with a simplified unified model of arcs and their electrodes. In order to determine two thermodynamic quantities such as temperature and pressure and flow characteristics we have modified Navier-Stokes equations to take into account radiation transport, electrical power input and the electromagnetic driving forces with the relevant Maxwell equations. From the simplified self-consistent solution the energy flux to the anode can be derived.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.10a
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• pp.1483-1485
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• 2009

Silicon dioxide ($SiO_2$) thin films were deposited using a modified DBD called a "pin-to-plate-type DBD" in order to generate high-density plasmas with a gas mixture of PDMS/$O_2$. The effect of the gas mixture on the physical and chemical properties of $SiO_2$ deposited by the pin-to-plate-type DBD with the mixture of PDMS/$O_2$ was investigated.

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.201-207
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• 2017

An electron-excited temperature ($T_{ex}$) is not determined by the Boltzmann plots only with the spectral data of $4p{\rightarrow}4s$ in an Ar-plasma jet operated with a low frequency of several tens of kHz and the low voltage of a few kV, while $T_{ex}$ can be obtained at least with the presence of a high energy-level transition ($5p{\rightarrow}4s$) in the high-voltage operation of 8 kV. The optical intensities of most spectra that are measured according to the voltage and the measuring position of the plasma column increase or decay exponentially at the same rate as that of the intensity variation; therefore, the excitation temperature is estimated by comparing the relative optical-intensity to that of a high voltage. In the low-voltage range of an Ar-jet operation, the electron-excitation temperature is estimated as being from 0.61 eV to 0.67 eV, and the corresponding radical density of the Ar-4p state is in the order of $10^{10}{\sim}10^{11}cm^{-3}$. The variation of the excitation temperature is almost linear in relation to the operation voltage and the position of the plasma plume, meaning that the variation rates of the electron-excitation temperature are 0.03 eV/kV for the voltage and 0.075 eV/cm along the plasma plume.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2011.07a
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• pp.1536-1537
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• 2011

The high-voltage circuit breaker plays an important role in the electrical system because there has been a need for suitable switching devices capable of initiating and interrupting the flow of the electric fault current. It continues as the contacts recede from each other and as the newly created gap is bridged by a plasma. The arc plasma happens inside the insulation nozzle of SF6 self-blast interrupter which is newly developed as the next-generation switching principle. The ablation of PTFE nozzle is caused by this high temperature medium, the PTFE vapor from the nozzle surfaces flows toward the outlets and the pressure chamber. The vapor makes the pressure of the chamber increased by heat and mass transfer from the arcing zone. Because the rate of ablation depends on the magnitude of applied current, it decreases when the current goes to zero. The compressed gas inside the chamber flows reversely toward the arc plasma during this moment. According to this principle, the arc can be cooled down and the fault current can be interrupted successfully. In this study, we calculate arc plasmas and thermal-flow characteristics caused by fault current interruption inside a SF6 self-blast interrupter, and to investigate the effect of PTFE ablation on the whole arcing history.