• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.403-404
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• 2013

최근 scaling down의 한계에 부딪힌 DRAM과 Flash Memory를 대체하기 위한 차세대 메모리(Next Generation Memory)에 대한 연구가 활발히 진행되고 있다. ITRS (international technology roadmap for semiconductors)에 따르면 PRAM (phase change RAM), RRAM (resistive RAM), STT-MRAM (spin transfer torque magnetic RAM) 등이 차세대 메모리로써 부상하고 있다. 그 중 RRAM은 간단한 구조로 인한 고집적화, 빠른 program/erase 속도 (100~10 ns), 낮은 동작 전압 등의 장점을 갖고 있어 다른 차세대 메모리 중에서도 높은 평가를 받고 있다 [1]. 현재 RRAM은 주로 금속-산화물계(Metal-Oxide) 저항 변화 물질을 기반으로 연구가 활발하게 진행되고 있다. 하지만 근본적으로 공정 과정에서 산소에 의한 오염으로 인해 수율이 낮은 문제를 갖고 있으며, Endurance 및 Retention 등의 신뢰성이 떨어지는 단점이 있다. 따라서, 본 연구진은 산소 오염에 의한 신뢰성 문제를 근본적으로 해결할 수 있는 다양한 금속-질화물(Metal-Nitride) 기반의 저항 변화 물질을 제안해 연구를 진행하고 있으며, 우수한 열적 안정성($>450^{\circ}C$, 높은 종횡비, Cu 확산 방지 역할, 높은 공정 호환성 [2] 등의 장점을 가진 WN 박막을 저항 변화 물질로 사용하여 저항 변화 메모리를 구현하기 위한 연구를 진행하였다. WN 박막은 RF magnetron sputtering 방법을 사용하여 Ar/$N_2$ 가스를 20/30 sccm, 동작 압력 20 mTorr 조건에서 120 nm 의 두께로 증착하였고, E-beam Evaporation 방법을 통하여 Ti 상부 전극을 100 nm 증착하였다. I-V 실험결과, WN 기반의 RRAM은 양전압에서 SET 동작이 일어나며, 음전압에서 RESET 동작을 하는 bipolar 스위칭 특성을 보였으며, 읽기 전압 0.1 V에서 ~1 order의 저항비를 확보하였다. 신뢰성 분석 결과, $10^3$번의 Endurance 특성 및 $10^5$초의 긴 Retention time을 확보할 수 있었다. 또한, 고저항 상태에서는 Space-charge-limited Conduction, 저저항 상태에서는 Ohmic Conduction의 전도 특성을 보임에 따라 저항 변화 메카니즘이 filamentary conduction model로 확인되었다 [3]. 본 연구에서 개발한 WN 기반의 RRAM은 우수한 저항 변화 특성과 함께 높은 재료적 안정성, 그리고 기존 반도체 공정 호환성이 매우 높은 강점을 갖고 있어 핵심적인 차세대 메모리가 될 것으로 기대된다.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.360-370
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• 2015

As the size of the semiconductor devices shrinks to nanometer scale, the importance of plasma etching process to the fabrication of nanometer scale semiconductor devices is increasing further and further. But for the nanoscale devices, conventional plasma etching technique is extremely difficult to meet the requirement of the device fabrication, therefore, other etching techniques such as use of multi frequency plasma, source/bias/gas pulsing, etc. are investigated to meet the etching target. Until today, various pulsing techniques including pulsed plasma source and/or pulse-biased plasma etching have been tested on various materials. In this review, the experimental/theoretical studies of pulsed plasmas during the nanoscale plasma etching on etch profile, etch selectivity, uniformity, etc. have been summarized. Especially, the researches of pulsed plasma on the etching of silicon, $SiO_2$, and magnetic materials in the semiconductor industry for further device scaling have been discussed. Those results demonstrated the importance of pulse plasma on the pattern control for achieving the best performance. Although some of the pulsing mechanism is not well established, it is believed that this review will give a certain understanding on the pulsed plasma techniques.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.202-208
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• 2014

KIGAM (Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources) and MRAM (Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia) performed joint survey on Bayan-Onjuul W-Mo mineralized area. Following the survey, we carried out magnetic survey. W-Mo occurrences are located with keeping a certain distance from the northern boundary of granite which has higher magnetic susceptibility values. Also, the 3D imaging results of magnetic inversion show that granite bodies are extended to the W-Mo occurrence areas from the deep main body with decreasing of susceptibility. The results of magnetic data analysis are well matched with the general characteristics of ore solution involved with W mineralization. The further study about the hidden ore deposits which have similar spatial relationship between granite and known WMo occurrences are necessary to improve the economic feasibility.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.853-856
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• 2005

Inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack, which is one of the key elements in magnetic random access memory, was studied. The MTJ stacks were patterned in nanometer size by electron(e)-beam lithography, and TiN thin films were employed as a hard mask. The etch process of TiN hard mask was examined using Ar, $Cl_2/Ar$, and $SF_6/Ar$. The TiN hard mask patterned by e-beam lithography was first etched and then the etching of MTJ stack was performed. The MTJ stacks were etched using Ar, $Cl_2/Ar$, and $BCl_3/Ar$ gases by varying gas concentration and pressure.

• Proceedings of the Korean Information Science Society Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.261-266
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• 2006

최근 낸드 플래시 메모리는 임베디드 저장 장치로서 많이 사용되고 있을 뿐만 아니라 플래시 메모리의 저장 용량의 대용량화로 하드 디스크를 대체하는 SSD(solid state disk) 같은 제품이 출시되고 있다. 플래시 메모리는 하드디스크에 비하여 저전력, 빠른 접근성, 물리적 안정성 등의 장점이 있지만 읽기와 쓰기의 연산의 불균형적인 비용과 덮어 쓰기가 안 되고 쓰기 전에 해당 블록을 지워야하는 부가적인 작업을 수행해야 한다. 이와 같은 특징은 플래시 메모리의 쓰기 성능을 저하 시키고 기존의 하드디스크를 대체하는 것을 어렵게 만든다. 이와 같은 플래시 메모리의 단점을 해결하기 위해서 본 논문에서 비휘발성 메모리와 플래시 메모리를 함께 사용하는 방법을 제안한다. 최근 MRAM, FeRAM, PRAM과 같은 차세대 메모리 기술의 발전과 배터리 백업 메모리의 가격 하락으로 인하여 비휘발성 메모리의 상품적 가치가 높아지고 있다. 하지만 아직까지 용량 대비 가격이 비효율적이기 때문에 소용량의 비휘발성 메모리를 활용하여 플래시 메모리의 쓰기 연산에 대한 단점을 보완하는 방법을 제안한다. 본 논문에서는 FTL 에서 비휘발성 메모리를 쓰기 버퍼로 이용한 여러 가지 버퍼 관리 정책을 실험하였고 각 관리 정책에 따른 플래시 메모리의 성능 향상을 측정하였다. 실험을 통하여 최대로 읽기의 횟수는 90% 감소, 쓰기 횟수는 33% 감소, 소거 횟수는 50% 감소 효과를 보였다.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.122-125
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• 2013

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) is the phenomenon of magnetic thin film which is preferentially magnetized in a direction perpendicular to the film's plane. Amorphous multilayer with PMA has been studied as the good candidate to realization of high density STT-MRAM (Spin Transfer Torque-Magnetic Random Access Memory). The current issue of high density STT-MRAM is a decrease in the switching current of the device and an application of amorphous materials which are most suitable devices. The amorphous ferromagnetic material has low saturated magnetization, low coercivity and high thermal stability. In this study, we presented amorphous ferromagnetic multilayer that consists of an amorphous alloy CoSiB and a nonmagnetic material Pd. We investigated the change of PMA of the $[CoSiB\;t_{CoSiB}/Pd\;1.3nm]_5$ multilayer ($t_{CoSiB}$ = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6 nm, and $t_{Pd}$ = 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 nm) and $[CoSiB\;0.3nm/Pd\;1.3nm]_n$ multilayer (n = 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13). This multilayer is measured by VSM (Vibrating Sample Magnetometer) and analyzed magnetic properties like a coercivity ($H_c$) and a magnetization ($M_s$). The coercivity in the $[CoSiB\;t_{CoSiB}\;nm/Pd\;1.3nm]_5$ multi-layers increased with increasing $t_{CoSiB}$ to reach a maximum at $t_{CoSiB}$ = 0.3 nm and then decreased for $t_{CoSiB}$ > 0.3 nm. The lowest saturated magnetization of $0.26emu/cm^3$ was obtained in the $[CoSiB\;0.3nm/Pd\;1.3nm]_3$ multilayer whereas the highest coercivity of 0.26 kOe was obtained in the $[CoSiB\;0.3nm/Pd\;1.3nm]_5$ mutilayer. Additional Pd layers did not contribute to the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The single domain structure evolved in to a striped multi-domain structure as the bilayer repetition number n was increased above 7 after which (n > 7) the hysteresis loops had a bow-tie shapes.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.17-22
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• 2004

We studied the magnetotransport properties of tunnel junctions with AlO and AlN barriers fabricated using microwave-excited plasma. The plasma nitridation process provided wider controllability than the plasma oxidization for the formation of MTJs with ultra-thin insulating layer, because of the slow nitriding rate of metal Al layers, comparing with the oxidizing rate of them. High tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) ratios of 49 and 44% with respective resistance-area product $(R{\times}A) of 3 {\times} 10^4 and 6 {\times} 10^3 {\Omega}{\mu}m^2$ were obtained in the Co-Fe/Al-N/Co-Fe MTJs. We conclude that AlN is a hopeful barrier material to realize MTJs with high TMR ratio and low $R{\times}A$ for high performance MRAM cells. In addition, in order to clarify the annealing temperature dependence of TMR, the local transport properties were measured for Ta $50{\AA} /Cu 200 {\AA}/Ta 50 {\AA}/Ni_{76}Fe_{24} 20 {\AA}/Cu 50 {\AA}/Mn_{75}Ir_{25} 100 {\AA}/Co_{71}Fe_{29} 40 {\AA}/Al-O$ junction with $d_{Al}= 8 {\AA} and P_{O2}{\times}t_{0X}/ = 8.4 {\times} 10^4$ at various temperatures. The current histogram statistically calculated from the electrical current image was well in accord with the fitting result considering the Gaussian distribution and Fowler-Nordheim equation. After annealing at $340^{\circ}C$, where the TMR ratio of the corresponding MTJ had the maximum value of 44%, the average barrier height increased to 1.12 eV and its standard deviation decreased to 0.1 eV. The increase of TMR ratio after annealing could be well explained by the enhancement of the average barrier height and the reduction of its fluctuation.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.422-428
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• 2014

Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) and Mineral Resources Authority of Mongolia (MRAM) performed a joint survey on Ugii Nuur Fe-Mn mineralized area. Following the survey, we carried out magnetic survey and 3D magnetic susceptibility inversion. Based on the inversion results, basic feasibility study and 3D imaging of Fe-Mn mineralized area were performed using 3D geological modeling technique. Using the distribution of total magnetic field data, we were confirmed for the possibility of horizontal extension of ore bodies from surface outcrops. The 3D magnetic susceptibility model, which is highly related with Fe content, analyzed by inversion shows that the ore bodies of Deposit 1 and Deposit 2 are extended to the underground and ore bodies that are not exposed on the surface are largely distributed in the underground. If we perform the integration analysis using this magnetic susceptibility model and the ore grade data analyzed by drilling survey, it is possible to carry out the effective potential evaluation of Ugii Nuur Fe-Mn ore deposit.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.97-102
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• 2003

Synthetic ferrimagnetic layer (SyFL) with structure NiFe/Ru/NiFe which can be applied high density TMR device in free layer were prepared by an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) helicon-sputter. We proposed a model of predicting coercivity (H$\_$c/), spin-flopping field (H$\_$sf/), and saturation field (H$\_$s/) as a function of Ru thicknesses, from the equilibrium state of energies of Zeeman, exchange, and uniaxial anisotropy. We fabricated the samples of Ta(50 ${\AA}$)/NiFe(50${\AA}$)nu(4∼20${\AA}$)NiFe(30 ${\AA}$)/Ta(50${\AA}$), and measured the M-H loops with a superconduction quantum interference device (SQUID) applying the external field up to ${\pm}$ 15 kOe. The result was well agreed with the proposed model, and reveal K$\_$u = 1000 erg/㎤, J$\_$ex/ =0.7 erg/$\textrm{cm}^2$. We report that H$\_$c/ below 10 Oe is available, and R$\_$u/ thickness range should be in 4-10 ${\AA}$ for MRAM application. Our result implies that permalloy layers may lead to considerable magnetostriction effect in SyFL and intermixing in NiFe/Ru interfaces.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.35-40
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• 2014

We investigate magnetism and magnetocrystalline anisotropy of CoFe thin films, using VASP code in GGA. In this study Co-terminated and Fe-terminated 5-layer CoFe thin films are employed. The Co-terminated CoFe thin film shows two total energy minima at 2-dimensional lattice constants of $2.45{\AA}$ and $2.76{\AA}$. The film of $2.45{\AA}$ has fcc-like structure and the film of $2.76{\AA}$ has bcc-like structure similarly to a bulk CoFe alloy. And the fcc-like film is more stable by the energy difference of about 160 meV compared to the bcc-like film. The Fe-terminated CoFe film shows very complicated behaviour of total energy which is suspected to be closely related to its complex magnetic structure. The Co-terminated CoFe film of $2.76{\AA}$ shows perpendicular magnetocrystalline anisotropy (MCA), while the film of 2.45 does parallel MCA. The Fe-terminated CoFe film also exhibits similar MCA behaviour.