• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.117-117
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• 2008

In MIM capacitor, poly-Si bottom electrode is replaced with metal bottom electrode. Noble metals can be used as bottom electrodes of capacitors because they have high work function and remain conductive in highly oxidizing conditions. In addition, they are chemically very stable. Among novel metals, Ru (ruthenium) has been suggested as an alternative bottom electrode due to its excellent electrical performance, including a low leakage of current and compatibility to high dielectric constant materials. Chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process has been suggested to planarize and isolate the bottom electrode. Even though there is a great need for development of Ru CMP slurry, few studies have been carried out due to noble properties of Ru against chemicals. In the organic chemistry literature, periodate ion ($IO_4^-$) is a well-known oxidant. It has been reported that sodium periodate ($NaIO_4$) can form $RuO_4$ from hydrated ruthenic oxide ($RuO_2{\cdot}nH_2O$). $NaIO_4$ exist as various species in an aqueous solution as a function of pH. Also, the removal mechanism of Ru depends on solution of pH. In this research, the static etch rate, passivation film thickness and wettability were measured as a function of slurry pH. The electrochemical analysis was investigated as a function of pH. To evaluate the effect of pH on polishing behavior, removal rate was investigated as a function of pH by using patterned and unpatterned wafers.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.298-303
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• 2003

Bi$_4$-$_{x}$EU$_{x}$Ti$_3$O$_{12}$ (BET) thin films were etched by inductively coupled CF$_4$/Ar plasma. We obtained the maximum etch rate of 78 nm/min at the gas mixing ratio of CF$_4$(10%)/Ar(90%). The variation of volume density for F and Ar atoms are measured by the optical emission spectroscopy. As CF$_4$increased in CF$_4$/Ar plasma, the emission intensities of F increase, but Ar atoms decrease, which confirms our suggestion that emission intensity is proportional to the volume density of atoms. From X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, the intensities of the Bi-O, the Eu-O and the Ti-O peaks are changed. By pure Ar plasma, intensity peak of the oxygen-metal (O-M : TiO$_2$, Bi$_2$O$_3$, Eu$_2$O$_3$) bond was seemed to disappear while the intensity of pure oxygen peak showed an opposite tendency. After the BET thin films was etched by CF$_4$/Ar plasma, the peak intensity of O-M bond increase slowly, but more quickly than that of peak belonged to pure oxygen atoms due to the decrease of Ar ion bombardment. Scanning electron microscopy was used to investigate etching Profile. The Profile of etched BET thin film was over 85$^{\circ}$./TEX>.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.301-306
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• 2016

The effects of nanotexturing and post-etching on the reflection and quantum efficiency properties of diamond wire sawn (DWS) multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cell have been investigated. The chemical solutions, which are acidic etching solution (HF-$HNO_3$), metal assisted chemical etching (MAC etch) solutions ($AgNO_3$-HF-DI, HF-$H_2O_2$-DI) and post-etching solution (diluted KOH at $80^{\circ}C$), were used for micro- and nano-texturing at the surface of diamond wire sawn (DWS) mc-Si wafer. Experiments were performed with various post-etching time conditions in order to determine the optimized etching condition for solar cell. The reflectance of mc-Si wafer texturing with acidic etching solution showed a very high reflectance value of about 30% (w/o anti-reflection coating), which indicates the insufficient light absorption for solar cell. The formation of nano-texture on the surface of mc-Si contributed to the enhancement of light absorption. Also, post-etching time condition of 240 s was found adequate to the nano-texturing of mc-Si due to its high external quantum efficiency of about 30% at short wavelengths and high short circuit current density ($J_{sc}$) of $35.4mA/cm^2$.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.53-64
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• 2023

Atomic layer etching (ALE) is a promising technique with atomic-level thickness controllability and high selectivity based on self-limiting surface reactions. ALE is performed by sequential exposure of the film surface to reactants, which results in surface modification and release of volatile species. Among the various ALE methods, thermal ALE involves a thermally activated reaction by employing gas species to release the modified surface without using energetic species, such as accelerated ions and neutral beams. In this study, the basic principle and surface reaction mechanisms of thermal ALE?processes, including "fluorination-ligand exchange reaction", "conversion-etch reaction", "conversion-fluorination reaction", "oxidation-fluorination reaction", "oxidation-ligand exchange reaction", and "oxidation-conversion-fluorination reaction" are described. In addition, the reported thermal ALE processes for the removal of various oxides, metals, and nitrides are presented.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.228-238
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• 1992

An investigation on the step-coverage of PECVD and $O_3$ ThCVD oxides was undertaken to implement into the void-free inter metal dielectric planarization using multi-chamber system for the submicron double level metallization. At various initial aspect ratios the instantaneous aspect ratios were measured through modelling and experiment by depositing the oxides up to $0.9{\mu}m$ in thickness in order to monitor the onset of void formation. The modelling was found to be in a good agreement with the observed instantaneous aspect ratio of TEOS-based PECVD oxide whose re-entrant angle was less than $5^{\circ}$. It is demonstrated that either keeping the instantaneous aspect ratio of PECVD oxide as a first layer less than a factor of 0.8 or employing Ar sputter etch to create sloped oxide edge ensures the void-free planarization after$O_3$ ThCVD oxide deposition whose step-coverage is superior to PECVD oxide. It has been observed that $O_3$ ThCVD oxide etchback scheme has shown higher yield of via contact chain than non etchback process, with resistance per via contact of $0.1~0.3{\Omega}/{\mu}m^2$.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.53-76
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• 1990

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the tensile bond strength of adhesive resins to successively recast Rexillium III and Degudent-U. Recasting was done 4times successively. Specimen $A_1$, were cast by new metal, and $A_2$ by surpus of $A_1$, $A_3$ by surplus of, $A_2$ $A_4$ by surplus of $A_3$, $A_5$ by surplus of $A_4$ plus 50% new metal. The types of surface treatment for resinbonded restoration in this experiment were electrolytic etching by OXY-ETCH(Oxy dental products, Inc., Hillside, New Jersey, U.S,A.), aluminum oxide blasting, anodic oxidation by EZ-OXISOR( Towagiken Co., Kyoto, Japan), electrotinplating by Kura Ace(Kuralay Co., Kyoto, Japan). Three kinds of cementing resin used in this study were Comspan(K.P. Cauil Co, Milford Delaware, U.S.A.), Super Bond C&B(Sun-Medical Co. Ltd., Kyoto,Japan), Panavia EX(Kuralay Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan). Tensile bond strength was measured by Instron Universal testing machineModel 1125) and all the specimen were observed with SEM(JEOL, JSM-T2000) and mode of bond failure were recorded. The obtained results were as follows : 1. In electrolytic etched group, tensile bond strength was decreassed when recast alloy was used, and tensile bond strength of Compan and panavia EX were not significantly different(P>0.05). 2. In remaining group treated by aluminum oxide blasting, EZ-OXIOR, Kura Ace, tensile bond strength were not changed when recast alloy were used, and tensile bond strength of SuperBond(C&B and Panavia EX were not significantly different(P>0.05). 3. IN SEM evaluation, electrolytic etched group and electrotinplated group exhibited different image when recast alloy was used, and remaining groups treated by aluminum oxide blasting, EZ-OXISOR exhibited the same. 4. IN observation of bond failure, electrolytic etched group exhibited adhesive failure and remaing groups treated by aluminium oxid blasting, EZ-OXISOR, Kura Ace exhibited adhesive and cohesive failure.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.2156-2164
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• 2017

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is considered as an antitumor agent owing to its ability to induce apoptosis of cancer cells without imparting toxicity toward most normal cells. TRAIL is produced in poor yield because of its insoluble expression in the cytoplasm of E. coli. In this study, we achieved soluble expression of TRAIL by fusing maltose-binding protein (MBP), b'a' domain of protein disulfide isomerase (PDIb'a'), or protein disulfide isomerase at the N-terminus of TRAIL. The TRAIL was purified using subsequent immobilized metal affinity chromatography and amylose-binding chromatography, with the tag removal using tobacco etch virus protease. Approximately 4.5 mg of pure TRAIL was produced from 125 ml flask culture with a purification yield of 71.6%. The endotoxin level of the final product was $0.4EU/{\mu}g$, as measured by the Limulus amebocyte lysate endotoxin assay. The purified TRAIL was validated and shown to cause apoptosis of HeLa cells with an $EC_{50}$ and Hill coefficient of $0.6{{\pm}}0.03nM$ and $2.41{\pm}0.15$, respectively. The high level of apoptosis in HeLa cells following administration of purified TRAIL indicates the significance and novelty of this method for producing high-grade and high-yield TRAIL.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.93-93
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• 2016

Large scale integrated circuits (LSIs) has been improved by the shrinkage of the circuit dimensions. The smaller chip sizes and increase in circuit density require the miniaturization of the line-width and space between metal interconnections. Therefore, an extreme precise control of the critical dimension and pattern profile is necessary to fabricate next generation nano-electronics devices. The pattern profile control of plasma etching with an accuracy of sub-nanometer must be achieved. To realize the etching process which achieves the problem, understanding of the etching mechanism and precise control of the process based on the real-time monitoring of internal plasma parameters such as etching species density, surface temperature of substrate, etc. are very important. For instance, it is known that the etched profiles of organic low dielectric (low-k) films are sensitive to the substrate temperature and density ratio of H and N atoms in the H2/N2 plasma [1]. In this study, we introduced a feedback control of actual substrate temperature and radical density ratio monitored in real time. And then the dependence of etch rates and profiles of organic films have been evaluated based on the substrate temperatures. In this study, organic low-k films were etched by a dual frequency capacitively coupled plasma employing the mixture of H2/N2 gases. A 100-MHz power was supplied to an upper electrode for plasma generation. The Si substrate was electrostatically chucked to a lower electrode biased by supplying a 2-MHz power. To investigate the effects of H and N radical on the etching profile of organic low-k films, absolute H and N atom densities were measured by vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy [2]. Moreover, using the optical fiber-type low-coherence interferometer [3], substrate temperature has been measured in real time during etching process. From the measurement results, the temperature raised rapidly just after plasma ignition and was gradually saturated. The temporal change of substrate temperature is a crucial issue to control of surface reactions of reactive species. Therefore, by the intervals of on-off of the plasma discharge, the substrate temperature was maintained within ${\pm}1.5^{\circ}C$ from the set value. As a result, the temperatures were kept within $3^{\circ}C$ during the etching process. Then, we etched organic films with line-and-space pattern using this system. The cross-sections of the organic films etched for 50 s with the substrate temperatures at $20^{\circ}C$ and $100^{\circ}C$ were observed by SEM. From the results, they were different in the sidewall profile. It suggests that the reactions on the sidewalls changed according to the substrate temperature. The precise substrate temperature control method with real-time temperature monitoring and intermittent plasma generation was suggested to contribute on realization of fine pattern etching.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.224-232
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• 2000

Aluminum metal process in surface micromachining enables to fabricate Al electrodes or Al structures, which improve electrical characteristics by reducing contact- and line-resistance or makes the whole process to be simple by using oxide as sacrificial layer. However, it is not possible to use conventional sacrificial layer etching process, because HF solution attacks aluminum as well as sacrificial oxide. The mixed solution of BHF and glycerine as an alternative shows the adequate properties to meet with this end. The exact etching properties, however, are sensitively depends on the geometry of the released structure, because the most etching process of sacrificial layer proceeds to the lateral direction in narrow space. Also, the surface roughness of aluminum affects to the etching characteristics. This paper reports experimental results on the effect of microstructure and surface roughness of aluminum to the etching properties. Considering these effects, we propose the optimized etching condition, which can be used practically for the fabrication of aluminum electrodes and microstructures by using standard surface micromachining process without modification or additional process.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.31-36
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• 2018

This research scrutinizes the reason of failure after pressure cooker test (PCT) for DRAM device. We use the physical inspecting tools, such as microscope, SEM and TEM, and finally find the discolor phenomenon, corrosion of Al and delamination of inter-metal dielectric (IMD) in the failed devices after PCT. Furthermore, we discover the abnormal $Al_XO_Y$ layer on Al through the careful additional measurements. To find the reason, we evaluate the effect of package ball size and pinhole in passivation layer. Unfortunately, those aren't related to the problems. We also estimate halide effect of Al. The halogens such like Cl are contained within EMC material. Those result in the slight improving of PCT characteristics but do not perfectly solve the problems. We make a hypothesis of Galvanic corrosion. We can find the residue of Ti at the edge of pad open area. We can see the improving the PCT characteristics by the time split of repair etch. The possible mechanism of the PCT failure can be deduced as such following sequence of reactions. The remained Ti reacts on the pad Al by Galvanic corrosion. The ionized Al is easily react with the $H_2O$ supplied under PCT environment, and finally transfers to the abnormal $Al_XO_Y$ layer.