• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.357-361
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• 2005

Low-stress silicon nitride (LSN) thin films with embedded metal line have been developed as free standing structures to keep microspheres in proper locations and localized heat source for application to a chip-based sensor array for the simultaneous and near-real-time detection of multiple analytes in solution. The LSN film has been utilized as a structural material as well as a hard mask layer for wet anisotropic etching of silicon. The LSN was deposited by LPCVD (Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition) process by varing the ratio of source gas flows. The residual stress of the LSN film was measured by laser curvature method. The residual stress of the LSN film is 6 times lower than that of the stoichiometric silicon nitride film. The test results showed that not only the LSN film but also the stack of LSN layers with embedded metal line could stand without notable deflection.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.89-93
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• 2018

Ceramic substrates applied to power modules of electric vehicles are required to have properties of high thermal conductivity, high electrical insulation, low thermal expansion coefficient and resistance to abrupt temperature change due to high power applied by driving power. Aluminum nitride and silicon nitride, which are applied to heat dissipation, are considered as materials meeting their needs. Therefore, in this paper, the properties of aluminum nitride and silicon nitride as radiator plate materials were compared through a commercial analysis program. As a result, when the process of applying heat of the same condition to aluminum nitride was implemented by simulation, the silicon nitride exhibited superior impact resistance and stress resistance due to less stress and warping. In terms of thermal conductivity, aluminum nitride has superior properties as a heat dissipation material, but silicon nitride is more dominant in terms of reliability.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.477-483
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• 2000

Rolling contact fatigue (RCF) tests were performed for two kinds of commercial silicon nitride balls using 4-Ball rolling contact fatigue life tester under EHL condition (Λ=8.9) and boundary lubrication condition (Λ=0.2). All the test balls were finished up to the dimensional accuracy of Grade 5 defined in KS B 2001 (Steel Balls for Ball Bearings) with a size of 8.731 mm. RCF tests were then conducted under the initial theoretical maximum contact stress 6.63 GPa and the spindle speed 10,000 rpm. All the test balls were not failed until 3.75 $\times$ 107 contact cycles and wear tracks of test balls were not conspicuous under EHL condition (Λ= 8.9). In the operations of low lambda regime (Λ= 0.2), all the test balls were surface damaged and high rolling wear resistance was achievable in fully densified using MgO 1 wt% and HIPed balls. Rolling wear of silicon nitride balls under boundary lubrication condition depend mainly on grain size and intergranular phase content of silicon nitride balls.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2009.08a
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• pp.225-225
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• 2009

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1441-1455
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• 1993

Under unlubricated condition, the friction and wear tests of silicon nitride and zirconia manufactured by HIP were carried out at room temperature. The wear resistance of silicon nitride was superior to that of zirconia under low load, whereas the wear resistance of zirconia was superior to that of silicon nitride under high load. Wear model of ceramic was suggested by the microscopic SEM observation of worn surfaces and debris. Theoretical analysis and discussions based on linear fracture mechanics were made out about this ceramic wear model. From the theoretical analysis, a new nondimensional parameter, Scf, was introduced to estimate wear rate of ceramics. This new nondimentional parameter consists of contact pressure, surface defect of contact material, frictional coefficient and fracture toughness.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
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• v.9 no.8
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• pp.789-798
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• 1996

The double nitride layer Metal Nitride Oxide Semiconductor(MNOS) structures were fabricated by variating both gas ratio and nitride thickness, and by duplicating nitride deposited and one nitride layer MNOS structure to improve nonvolatile memory characteristics of MNOS structures by Low Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition(LPCVD) method. The nonvolatile memory characteristics of write-in, erase, memory retention and degradation of Bias Temperature Stress(BTS) were investigated by the homemade automatic .DELTA. $V_{FB}$ measuring system. In the trap density double nitride layer structures were higher by 0.85*10$^{16}$ $m^{-2}$ than one nitride layer structure, and the AVFB with oxide field was linearly increased. However, one nitride layer structure was linearly increased and saturated above 9.07*10$^{8}$ V/m in oxide field. In the erase behavior, the hole injection from silicon instead of the trapped electron emission was observed, and also it was highly dependent upon the pulse amplitude and the pulse width. In the memory retentivity, double nitrite layer structures were superior to one nitride layer structure, and the decay rate of the trapped electron with increasing temperature was low. At increasing the number on BTS, the variance of AVFB of the double nitride layer structures was smaller than that of one nitride layer structure, and the trapped electron retention rate was high. In this paper, the double nitride layer structures were turned out to be useful in improving the nonvolatile memory characteristics.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.137-140
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• 2014

With the recent advent of through silicon via (TSV) technology, wafer level-TSV interconnection become feasible in high volume manufacturing. To increase the manufacturing productivity, it is required to develop equipment for backside passivation layer deposition for TSV wafer bonding process with high deposition rate and low film stress. In this research, we investigated the relationship between process parameters and the induced wafer stress of PECVD silicon nitride film on 300 mm wafers employing statistical and artificial intelligence modeling. We found that the film stress increases with increased RF power, but the pressure has inversely proportional to the stress. It is also observed that no significant stress change is observed when the gas flow rate is low.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.246-251
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• 2003

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is composed of the brain capillaries, which are lined by endothelial cells displaying extremely tight intercellular junctions. Several attempts at creating an in vitro model of the BBB have been met with moderate success as brain capillary endothelial cells lose their barrier properties when isolated in cell culture. This may be due to a lack of recreation of the in vivo endothelial cellular environment in these models, including nearly constant contact with astrocyte foot processes. This work is motivated by the hypothesis that growing endothelial cells on one side of an ultra-thin, highly porous membrane and differentiating astrocyte or astrogliomal cells on the opposite side will lead to a higher degree of interaction between the two cell types and therefore to an improved model. Here we describe our initial efforts towards testing this hypothesis including a procedure for membrane fabrication and methods for culturing endothelial cells on these membranes. We have fabricated a 1 $\mu\textrm{m}$ thick, 2.0 $\mu\textrm{m}$ pore size, and 55% porous membrane with a very narrow pore size distribution from low-stress silicon nitride (SiN) utilizing techniques from the microelectronics industry. We have developed a base, acid, autoclave routine that prepares the membranes for cell culture both by cleaning residual fabrication chemicals from the surface and by increasing the hydrophilicity of the membranes (confirmed by contact angle measurements). Gelatin, fibronectin, and a 50/50 mixture of the two proteins were evaluated as potential basement membrane protein treatments prior to membrane cell seeding. All three treatments support adequate attachment and growth on the membranes compared to the control.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.379-384
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• 2015

An infrared image sensor is a core device in a thermal imaging system. The fabrication method of a focal plane array (FPA) is a key technology for a high resolution infrared image sensor. Each pixels in the FPA have $Si_3N_4/SiO_2$ membranes including legs to deposit bolometric materials and electrodes on Si readout circuits (ROIC). Instead of polyimide used to form a sacrificial layer, the feasibility of an amorphous silicon (${\alpha}-Si$) was verified experimentally in a $8{\times}8$ micro-bolometer array with a $50{\mu}m$ pitch. The elimination of the polyimide sacrificial layer hardened by a following plasma assisted deposition process is sometimes far from perfect, and thus requires longer plasma ashing times leading to the deformation of the membrane and leg. Since the amorphous Si could be removed in $XeF_2$ gas at room temperature, however, the fabricated micro-bolomertic structure was not damaged seriously. A radio frequency (RF) sputtered nickel oxide film was grown on a $Si_3N_4/SiO_2$ membrane fabricated using a low stress silicon nitride (LSSiN) technology with a LPCVD system. The deformation of the membrane was effectively reduced by a combining the ${\alpha}-Si$ and LSSiN process for a nickel oxide micro-bolometer.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.110-114
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• 2007

Dependence of the thermal stability of nickel silicide on the film stress of inter layer dielectric (ILD) layer has been investigated in this study and silicon nitride $(Si_3N_4)$ layer is used as an ILD layer. Nickel silicide was formed with a one-step rapid thermal process at $500^{\circ}C$ for 30 sec. $2000{\AA}$ thick $Si_3N_4$ layer was deposited using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition after the formation of Ni silicide and its stress was split from compressive stress to tensile stress by controlling the power of power sources. Stress level of each stress type was also split for thorough analysis. It is found that the thermal stability of nickel silicide strongly depends on the stress type as well as the stress level induced by the $Si_3N_4$ layer. In the case of high compressive stress, silicide agglomeration and its phase transformation from the low-resistivity nickel mono-silicide to the high-resistivity nickel di-silicide are retarded, and hence the thermal stability is obviously improved a lot. However, in the case of high tensile stress, the thermal stability shows the worst case among the stressed cases.