• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.5-6
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• 2000

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.146-151
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• 2004

Indium tin oxide (ITO) is widely used to make a transparent conducting film for various display devices and opto-electric devices. In this study, ITO films on glass substrate were fabricated by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted dc magnetron sputtering. A two-turn rf coil was inserted in the process chamber between the substrate and magnetron for the generation of ICP. The substrates were not heated intentionally. Subsequent post-annealing treatment for as-deposited ITO films was not performed. Low-temperature deposition technique is required for ITO films to be used with heat sensitive plastic substrates, such as the polycarbonate and acrylic substrates used in LCD devices. The surface roughness of the ITO films is also an important feature in the application of OLEDs along with the use of a low temperature deposition technique. In order to obtain optimum ITO thin film properties at low temperature, the depositions were carried out at different condition in changing of Ar and $O_2$ gas mixtures, ICP power. The electrical, optical and structural properties of the deposited films were characterized by four-point probe, UV/VIS spectrophotometer, atomic force microscopy(AFM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The electrical resistivity of the films was -l0$^{-4}$ $\Omega$cm and the optical transmittance in the visible range was ＞85%. The surface roughness ( $R_{rms}$) was -20$\AA$.>.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.375-379
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• 2014

Nanocrystalline TiAlN coatings were prepared by reactively sputtering TiAl metal target with $N_2$ gas. This was done using a magnetron sputtering system operated in DC and ICP (inductively coupled plasma) conditions at various power levels. The effect of ICP power (from 0 to 300 W) on the coating microstructure, corrosion and mechanical properties were systematically investigated using FE-SEM, AFM and nanoindentation. The results show that ICP power has a significant influence on coating microstructure and mechanical properties of TiAlN coatings. With increasing ICP power, the coating microstructure evolved from the columnar structure typical of DC sputtering processes to a highly dense one. Average grain size of TiAlN coatings decreased from 15.6 to 5.9 nm with increasing ICP power. The maximum nano-hardness (67.9 GPa) was obtained for the coatings deposited at 300 W of ICP power. The smoothest surface morphology (Ra roughness 5.1 nm) was obtained for the TiAlN coating sputtered at 300 W ICP power.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.103.1-103.1
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• 2017

Nanocrystalline HfN coatings were prepared by reactively sputtering Hf metal target with N2 gas using a magnetron sputtering system operated in DC and ICP (inductively coupled plasma) condition with various powers. The effects of ICP power, ranging from 0 to 200 W, on the coating microstructure, corrosion and mechanical properties were systematically investigated with FE-SEM, AFM, potentiostat and nanoindentation. The results show that ICP power has a significant influence on coating microstructure and mechanical properties of HfN coatings. With the increasing of ICP power, coating microstructure evolves from the columnar structure of DC process to a highly dense one. Average grain size and nano hardness of HfN coatings were also investigated with increasing ICP powers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.59.2-59.2
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• 2015

Modification of film structure and properties in inductively-coupled plasma (ICP) assisted dc and pulsed dc sputtering has been reported by Oya and Kusano [1] and by Sakamoto, Kusano, and Matsuda [2], showing drastic changes in films structure and properties by the ICP assistance in particular to the pulsed dc discharge. Although mechanisms involved in the modification has been reported to be the increase in energy transferred to the substrate, details of effects of low-energy ion bombardment on the modification and origin of an anomalous increase in the ion quantity by the ICP assistance to the pulsed dc discharge have not been discussed. In this presentation, mechanisms involved in film structure and property modification in ICP assisted dc and pulsed dc sputtering, in which a number of low-energy ions are formed, will be discussed based on ion energy distribution as well as effectiveness of energy transfer to the substrate by low energy particles [3]. The results discussed in this presentation will emphasize the fact that the energetic particles playing an important role in the film structure modification are those to be deposited, but not those of inert gas, when their energies range in less than 100 eV in the pressure range of magnetron sputtering.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.187-191
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• 2013

Niobium nitride (NbN) films were deposited on AISI 304 stainless steels by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted dc magnetron sputtering method at different ICP powers, and the effects of ICP power on the phase formation, mechanical and chemical properties of the films were investigated. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were used to analyze the crystal structure and micro-knoop hardness was used to measure the hardness of the films. Also, 3-D mechanical profiler and a ball-on-disk wear tester were used to measure the thickness of the films and to estimate wear characteristics, respectively. The thickness of the films decreased but their hardness increased with increasing ICP power, and it was confirmed that only cubic ${\delta}$-NbN(200) remained at high ICP power. At lower ICP powers, a mixture of the hexagonal ${\delta}^{\prime}$-NbN and cubic ${\delta}$-NbN phases was obtained in the films and the hardness decreased. The corrosion potential value increased gradually with increasing ICP power, but the changes of ICP power did not significantly influence the overall corrosion resistance.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.123-129
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• 2012

Nanocrystalline CrN coatings were fabricated by DC and ICP (inductively coupled plasma) assisted magnetron sputtering techniques. The effect of ICP power, ranging from 0 to 500 W, on coating microstructure, preferred orientation mechanical properties were systematically investigated with HR-XRD, SEM, AFM and nanoindentation. The results show that ICP power has an significant influence on coating microstructure and mechanical properties of CrN coatings. With the increasing of ICP power, coating microstructure evolves from the columnar structure of DC process to a highly dense one. Grain size of CrN coatings were decreased from 11.7 nm to 6.6 nm with increase of ICP power. The maximum nanohardness of 23.0 GPa was obtained for the coatings deposited at ICP power of 500 W. Preferred orientation in CrN coatings also vary with ICP power, exerting an effective influence on film nanohardness.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2005

A real-time monitoring of ICP(inductively coupled plasma) assisted magnetron sputtering of MgO was carried out using a QMS(quadrupole mass spectrometer), an OES(optical emission spectrometer), and a digital oscilloscope with a high voltage probe and a current monitor. At the time of ICP ignition, the most distinct impurity was OH emission (308.9 nm) which was dissociated from water molecules. For reactive deposition oxygen was added to Ar and the OH emission intensity was reduced abruptly When the discharge voltage was regulated by a PID controller from 240V(metallic mode) to 120V(oxide mode), the emission intensity from Mg (285.2 nm) changed proportionally to the discharge voltage, but the intensity of Ar I(811.6 nm) was constant. At 100V of discharge voltage, Mg sputtering was almost stopped. Emissions from Ar I(420.1 nm) and Mg I were dropped down to 1/10, but Ar I(811.6 nm) didn't change. And the emission from atomic oxygen (O I, 777.3 nm) was increased to 10 times. These results are compatible with those from QMS study.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2018.06a
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• pp.125-125
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• 2018

반도체 소자의 미새화에 따라 선폭이 10nm 이하로 줄어듦에 따라, 금속 배선의 저항이 급격하게 상승하고 있다. Cu는 낮은 저항과 높은 전도도를 가지고 있어 현재 배선물질로써 가장 많이 사용되고 있지만, 소자가 미세화됨에 따라 Cu를 미래의 배선물질로써 계속 사용하기에는 몇 가지 문제점이 제기되고 있다. Cu는 electron mean free path (EMFP)가 39 nm로 긴 특성을 가지기 때문에, 선폭이 줄어듦에 따라 surface 및 grain boundary scattering이 증가하여 저항이 급격하게 증가한다. 또한, technology node에 따른 소자의 operating temperature와 current density의 증가로 인해 Cu의 reliability가 감소하게 된다. 텅스텐은 EMFP가 19 nm로 짧은 특성을 가지고 있어, 소자의 크기가 줄어듦에 따라 Cu보다 낮은 저항 특성을 가질 수 있으며, 녹는점이 3695K로 1357K인 Cu보다 높으므로 배선물질로써 Cu를 대체할 가능성이 있다. 본 연구에서는 Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) assisted magnetron sputtering을 통해 매우 얇은 텅스텐 박막을 증착하여 저항을 낮추고자 하였다. 고밀도 플라즈마의 방전을 위해, internal-type coil antenna를 사용하였으며 텅스텐 박막의 증착을 위해 DC sputter system이 사용되었다. 높은 에너지를 가진 텅스텐 이온을 이용하여 낮은 온도에서 고품위 박막을 증착할 수 있었으며, dense한 구조의 박막 성장이 가능하였다. ICP assisted를 이용하여 증착했을 때와, 그렇지 않을 때를 비교하여 ICP 조건에 따라서 박막의 저항이 감소함을 확인할 수 있었을 뿐만 아니라 최대 약 65% 감소함을 확인할 수 있었다. XRD를 이용하여 ICP power를 인가했을 때, 높은 저항을 갖는 A-15 구조를 가진 ${\beta}$ peak의 감소와 낮은 저항을 갖는 BCC 구조를 가진 ${\alpha}$ peak의 증가를 상온과 673K에서 증착한 박막 모두에서 확인하였으며, 이를 통해 ICP power가 저항 감소에 영향을 미친다는 것을 확인하였다. 또한, 두 온도 조건에서 grain size를 계산하여 ICP power를 인가함에 따라 두 조건 모두 grain size가 증가하였음을 조사하였다. 또한, XPS 분석을 통해 ICP power를 인가하였을 때 박막의 저항에 많은 영향을 끼치는 O peak이 감소하는 것을 통해 ICP assisted의 효과를 확인하였다. 이를 통해, ICP assisted magnetron sputtering을 통해 텅스텐 박막을 증착함으로써 차세대 배선물질로써 텅스텐의 가능성을 확인할 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.98-104
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• 2006

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) films were deposited on the plastic substrate by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted DC magnetron sputtering. The AZO films were produced by sputtering a metallic target (Zn/Al) in a mixture of argon and oxygen gases. AZO films with an electrical resistivity of ${\sim}10^3\;{\Omega}cm$ and an optical transmittance of 80% were obtained even at a low deposition temperature. In-situ process control methods were used to obtain stable deposition conditions in the transition region without any hysteresis effect. The target voltage was controlled either at a constant DC power. It was found that the ratio of the zinc to oxygen emission intensity, I (O 777)/I (Zn 481) decreased with increasing the target voltage in the transition region. The $Ar/O_2$ plasma treatment improve the adhesion strength between the polycarbonate substrate and AZO films.