• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.246-246
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• 2010

As the trench width in the interconnect technology decreases down to nano-scale below 50 nm, superconformal gap-filling process of Cu becomes very critical for Cu interconnect. Obtaining superconfomral gap-filling of Cu in the nano-scale trench or via hole using MOCVD is essential to control nucleation and growth of Cu. Therefore, nucleation of Cu must be suppressed near the entrance surface of the trench while Cu layer nucleates and grows at the bottom of the trench. In this study, suppression of Cu nucleation was achieved by treating the Ru barrier metal surface with capacitively coupled hydrogen plasma. Effect of hydrogen plasma pretreatment on Cu nucleation was investigated during MOCVD on atomic-layer deposited (ALD)-Ru barrier surface. It was found that the nucleation and growth of Cu was affected by hydrogen plasma treatment condition. In particular, as the plasma pretreatment time and electrode power increased, Cu nucleation was inhibited. Experimental data suggests that hydrogen atoms from the plasma was implanted onto the Ru surface, which resulted in suppression of Cu nucleation owing to prevention of adsorption of Cu precursor molecules. Due to the hydrogen plasma treatment of the trench on Ru barrier surface, the suppression of Cu nucleation near the entrance of the trenches was achieved and then led to the superconformal gap filling of the nano-scale trenches. In the case for without hydrogen plasma treatments, however, over-grown Cu covered the whole entrance of nano-scale trenches. Detailed mechanism of nucleation suppression and resulting in nano-scale superconformal gap-filling of Cu will be discussed in detail.

• Particle and aerosol research
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.171-178
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• 2009

$PM_{2.5}$ is one of critical air pollutants due to its high absorbability of heavy metallic fumes, PAH and bacillary micro organisms. Such a fine particulate matter is often formed through various nucleation processes including condensation. This study attempts to find the nucleation behaviors of $PM_{2.5}$ arisen from coal power stations using a classical heterogeneous Fletcher's theory. The numerical simulation by C-language could approximate the nucleation process of $PM_{2.5}$ from water vapor, of which approach revealed the required energy for embryo formation and embryo size and nucleation rate. As a result of the calculation, it was found that wetting agents could affect the particle nucleation in vapor condensation. In particular, critical contact angle relates closely with the vapor saturation. Particle condensation could be reduced by lowering the angles. The wetting agents aid to decrease the contact angle and surface tensions, thereby may contribute to save the formation energy.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.431-439
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• 2012

Dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) was carried out to study the nucleation and crystal growth process of $CeO_2$ nanoparticles in different alcohol aqueous solutions. The results showed that the nucleation and crystal growth process of $CeO_2$ can be classified into three stages: nuclei growth, crystal stabilization and crystal aggregation except the initial induction stage, which could be reproduced by collecting simulation results after different simulation time. Properly selecting the sizes of $CeO_2$ and water bead was crucial in the simulation system. The influence of alcohol type and content in solutions, and precipitation temperature on the particle dimension were investigated in detail and compared with the experimental results. The consistency between simulation results and experimental data verify that the simulation can reproduce the macroscopic particle aggregation process. The effect of solvent on the nucleation and crystal growth of $CeO_2$ nanoparticles are different at three stages and can not be simply described by Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theory or nucleation thermodynamics theory. Our work demonstrated that DPD methods can be applied to study nanoparticle forming process.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.164-176
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• 2005

In bioengineering field, current academic trends and informations on crystallization technology for bioproduct separation were summarized. It is essential for utilizing the crystallization technology to understand the fundamental phenomena of crystallization of crystal nucleation, crystal growth, crystal agglomeration and population balance for the design of crystallizers. In general, the crystal nucleation that the crystalline solids occur from the solution is analyzed by Gibb's free energy change in the aspect of thermodynamics and in the present paper the crystal nucleation models based on the above thermodynamics are summarized by their key characteristics. The crystal growth and agglomeration, which have been studied over 50 years and are essential phenomena for separation technology, are reviewed from their basic concept to most leading edge trend of researches. In the material and population balances for the designs of crystallization separation process, the analysis of crystallizers is summarized. Thereon, the present review paper will academically contribute the understanding the crystallization phenomena and the design of the crystallization separation process.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.115-127
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• 2014

Cd-Pb thin films were electrodeposited from a diluted chloride solution using stainless steel rotating disc electrode. The linear sweep voltammograms of the single metallic ions show that electrodeposition of these ions was mass transfer control due to the plateau observed for different rotations at concentration (50 and 200 ppm). The voltammograms of binary system elucidate that electrodeposition process always start at cathodic potential located between the potential of individual metals. Currents transients measurements, anodic linear sweep voltammetry (ALSV) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to characterize the electrocryatalization process and morphology of thin films. ALSV profiles show a differentiation for the dissolution process of individual metals and binary system. Two peaks of dissolution Cd-Pb film were observed for the binary system with different metal ion concentration ratios. The model of Scharifker and Hills was used to analyze the current transients and it revealed that Cd-Pb electrocrystalization processes at low concentration is governed by three-dimensional progressive nucleation controlled by diffusion, while at higher concentration starts as a progressive nucleation then switch to instantaneous nucleation process. AFM images reveal that Cd-Pb film electrodeposited at low concentration is more roughness than Cd-Pb film electrodeposited at high concentrated solution.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06d
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• pp.354-359
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• 2001

As the temperature of liquid under negative pressure approaches the absolute zero, the nucleation process due to thermal fluctuations hardly occurs. Instead of this mechanism, quantum fluctuations may lead the formation of nucleus for new phase in metastable state. In this study, the thermal as well as quantum nucleation bubble in liquid helium under negative pressure was investigated theoretically. The energy barrier against nucleation was estimated by molecular interaction due to the Londom dispersion force. It is shown that the phase transition from liquid to vapor in is possible due to the quantum tunneling below 0.2 K for Helium-4 and 0.1 K for Helium-3, at negative pressures close to the ideal tensile strength at which every liquid molecules become bubbles simultaneously.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.35-39
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• 2000

The correlation between the activation volumes of wall-motion and nucleation processes in Co/Pd multilayers has been investigated. Each activation volume was estimated from the field dependence of the wall-motion speed and the nucleation rate, respectively, based on time-resolved domain patterns grabbed by a MOKE microscope system. Both the activation volumes are changed in the same manner around $0.2\sim1.1\times10^{-17}cm^3$ with changes in the multilayered structure. Interestingly, the correlation between the activation volumes is sensitive to the multilayered structure; the wall-motion activation volume is smaller than the nucleation activation volume for a sample having a smaller number of repeats and a thinner Co-layer thickness, and vice versa. The correlation is closely related with the contrasting reversal modes; the process having the smaller activation volume dominates.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.116-119
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• 2000

Magnetic field dependence of magnetization reversal in Co/Pt multilayers was quantitatively investigated. Serial samples of Co/Pt multilayers were prepared by dc-magnetron sputtering under various Ar pressures. Magnetization reversal was monitored by magnetization viscosity measurement and direct domain observation using a magneto-optical microscope system, and the wall-motion speed V and the nucleation rate R were determined using a domain reversal model based on time-resolved domain reversal patterns. Both V and R were found to be exponentially dependent on the applied reversing field. From the exponential dependencies, the activation volumes for wall motion and nucleation could be determined, based on a thermally activated relaxation model, and the wall-motion activation volume was found to be slightly larger than the nucleation activation volume.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.636-644
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• 1997

The effect of various processing parameters, in particular the substrate and filament temperature, on the nucleation of diamond has been studied for the hot filament CVD process with a negative bias on the substrate. As far as the substrate temperature was maintained around the critical temperature of 73$0^{\circ}C$, the nucleation of diamond increased with increasing filament temperature. The maximum nucleation density of ~ 2$\times$109/$\textrm{cm}^2$ was obtained under the condition of filament temperature of 230$0^{\circ}C$, substrate temperature of 75$0^{\circ}C$, bias voltage of 300V, methane concentration of 20%, and deposition time of 2 hours. This nucleation density is about the same as those obtained in previous investigations. For fixed substrate temperatures, the nucleation density varies up to about 103 times depending on experimental conditions. This result is different from that of Reinke, et al. When the substrate temperature was above 80$0^{\circ}C$, a silkworm~shaped carbon phase was co-deposited with hemispherical microcrystalline diamond, and its amount increased with increasing substrate temperature. The Raman spectrum of the silkworm-shaped carbon was the same as that of graphitic soot. The silkworm-shaped carbon was etched and disappeared under the same as that of graphitic soot. The silkworm-shaped carbon was etched and disappeared under the deposition condition of diamond, implying that it did not affect the nucleation of diamond.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1992.11a
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• pp.28-30
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• 1992

Long incubation period of W nucleation on the TiN glue layer is a serious problem in blanket W process. In this study we investigated the dependence of W nucleation and growth rate on the preparation method of the TiN film, deposition temperature, chemistry, $SiH_4/WF_6$ ratio and sputter etching, ion implantation, and $SiH_4$ flushing pre-treatments. Incubation periods of W nucleation and deposition rates of W growth on three different TiNs are in the order of TiN>RTP-TiN> annealed TiN and TiN${\leq}$RTP-TiN${\leq}$ annealed TiN, respectively. $\beta$-W is not found on TiN substrate even for high $SiH_4/WF_6$ ratio. Sputter etching pre-treatment increases incubation period of W nucleation, while it decreases deposition rate. $SiH_4$ flushing pre-treatment decreases incubation period, but it slightly decreases deposition rate.