• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.223-226
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• 2004

The PZT thin films are one of well-known materials that has been widely studied for ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM). We etched the PZT thin films by $CF_{4}/(Cl_{2}+Ar)$ plasma and investigated improvement in etching damage by $O_{2}$ annealing. The maximum etch rate of the PZT thin films was 157 nrn/min and that the selectivity of the PZT thin films to Pt was 3.1 when $CF_{4}(30{\%})$ was added to a $Cl_{2}(80{\%})/Ar(20{\%})$ gas mixing ratio. To improve the ferroelectric properties of PZT thin films after etching, the samples were annealed for 10 min at various temperatures in $O_{2}$ atmosphere. After $O_{2}$ annealing, the remanent polarization of the asdeposited films was $34.6{\mu}/cm^{2}$ and the sample annealed at 650, 550, and $450^{\circ}C$ was 32.8, 22.3, and $18.6{\mu}/cm^{2}$, respectively. PZT thin films with $O_{2}$ annealing at $450^{\circ}C$ retained $77{\%}$ of their original polarization at 106 cycles. Also as the annealing temperature increased, the fatigue properties improved. And the leakage current was decreased gradually and almost recovered to the as-deposited value after the annealing at $450^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.695-699
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• 2001

Cerium dioxide (CeO$_2$) was used as the intermediate layer between the ferroelectric thin film and Si substrate in a metal-ferroelectric-semiconductor field effect transistor (MFSFET), to improve the interface property by preventing the interdiffusion of the ferroelectric material and the Si substrate. In this study, CeO$_2$ thin films were etched with a CF$_4$/Ar gas combination in inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The maximum etch rate of CeO$_2$ thin films was 270$\AA$/min under CF$_4$/(CF$_4$+Ar) of 0.2, 600 W/-200V, 15 mTorr, and $25^{\circ}C$. The selectivities of CeO$_2$ to PR and SBT were 0.21, 0.25, respectively. The surface reaction in the etching of CeO$_2$ thin films was investigated with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). There is a chemical reaction between Ce and F. Compounds such as Ce-F$_{x}$ remains on the surface of CeO$_2$ thin films. Those products can be removed by Ar ion bombardment. The results of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) were consistent with those of XPS. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to examine etched profiles of CeO$_2$ thin films. The etch profile of over-etched CeO$_2$ films with the 0.5${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ line was approximately 65$^{\circ}$.>.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.1637-1642
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• 2010

In this paper, we present the fabrication of a high-quality diffractive-lens mold having submicron patterns, which is suitable for an ultra-slim optical system. In order to fabricate high-quality diffractive lens with a variety of submicron patterns, the multi-alignment method was used; high-resolution electron-beam lithography and FAB plasma etching were carried out to obtain the patterns. The most important key technology in the multi-alignment method is to reduce alignment error, lithography error, and etching error. In this paper, these major fabrication errors were minimized, and a high-quality diffractive lens with a diameter of $267\;{\mu}m$ (NA = 0.25), minimum pattern width of 226 nm, and thickness of 819 nm was successfully fabricated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.164-165
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• 2005

The dry etch characteristics of GaAs over both AlGaAs and InGaP in planar inductively coupled $BCl_3$-based plasmas(ICP) with additions of $SF_6$ or $CF_4$ were studied. The additions of flourine gases provided enhanced etch selectivities of GaAs/AlGaAs and GaAs/InGaP. The etch stop reaction involving formation of involatile $AlF_3$ and $InF_3$ (boiling points of etch products: $AlF_3\sim1300^{\circ}C$, $InF_3$ > $1200^{\circ}C$ at atmosphere) were found to be effective under high density inductively coupled plasma condition. Decrease of etch rates of all materials was probably due to strong increase of flourine atoms in the discharge, which blocked the surface of the material against chlorine neutral adsorption. The process parameters were ICP source power (0 - 500 W), RF chuck power (0 - 30 W) and variable gas composition. The process results were characterized in terms of etch rate, selectivities of GaAs over AlGaAs and InGaP, surface morphology, surface roughness and residues after etching.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.697-702
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• 2019

In this study, using a wet chemical process, we evaluate the effectiveness of different solution concentrations in removing layers from a solar cell, which is necessary for recovery of high-purity silicon. A 4-step wet etching process is applied to a 6-inch back surface field(BSF) solar cell. The metal electrode is removed in the first and second steps of the process, and the anti-reflection coating(ARC) is removed in the third step. In the fourth step, high purity silicon is recovered by simultaneously removing the emitter and the BSF layer from the solar cell. It is confirmed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy(ICP-MS) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy(SIMS) analyses that the effectiveness of layer removal increases with increasing chemical concentrations. The purity of silicon recovered through the process, using the optimal concentration for each process, is analyzed using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy(ICP-AES). In addition, the silicon wafer is recovered through optimum etching conditions for silicon recovery, and the solar cell is remanufactured using this recovered silicon wafer. The efficiency of the remanufactured solar cell is very similar to that of a commercial wafer-based solar cell, and sufficient for use in the PV industry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.523-523
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• 2012

As the wafer geometric requirements continuously complicated and minutes in tens of nanometers, the expectation of real-time add-on sensors for in-situ plasma process monitoring is rapidly increasing. Various industry applications, utilizing plasma impedance monitor (PIM) and optical emission spectroscopy (OES), on etch end point detection, etch chemistry investigation, health monitoring, fault detection and classification, and advanced process control are good examples. However, process monitoring in semiconductor manufacturing industry requires non-invasiveness. The hypothesis behind the optical monitoring of plasma induced ion current is for the monitoring of plasma induced charging damage in non-invasive optical way. In plasma dielectric via etching, the bombardment of reactive ions on exposed conductor patterns may induce electrical current. Induced electrical charge can further flow down to device level, and accumulated charges in the consecutive plasma processes during back-end metallization can create plasma induced charging damage to shift the threshold voltage of device. As a preliminary research for the hypothesis, we performed two phases experiment to measure the plasma induced current in etch environmental condition. We fabricated electrical test circuits to convert induced current to flickering frequency of LED output, and the flickering frequency was measured by high speed optical plasma monitoring system (OPMS) in 10 kHz. Current-frequency calibration was done in offline by applying stepwise current increase while LED flickering was measured. Once the performance of the test circuits was evaluated, a metal pad for collecting ion bombardment during plasma etch condition was placed inside etch chamber, and the LED output frequency was measured in real-time. It was successful to acquire high speed optical emission data acquisition in 10 kHz. Offline measurement with the test circuitry was satisfactory, and we are continuously investigating the potential of real-time in-situ plasma induce current measurement via OPMS.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.634-640
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• 1998

A well- shaped trench was investigated in view of the defect distribution along trench sidewall and bottom using high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The trench was formed by HBr plasma and additive gases in magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching system. Adding $0_2$ and other additive gases into HBr plasma makes it possible to eliminate sidewall undercut and lower surface roughness by forming the passivation layer of lateral etching, resulted in the well filled trench with oxide and polysilicon by subsequent deposition. The passivation layer of lateral etching was mainly composed of $SiO_xF_y$ $SiO_xBr_y$ confirmed by chemical analysis. It also affects the generation and distribution of lattice defects. Most of etch induced defects were found in the edge region of the trench bottom within the depth of 10$\AA$. They are generally decreased with the thickness of residue layer and almost disappeared below the uni¬formly thick residue layer. While the formation of crystalline defects in silicon substrate mainly depends on the incident angle and energy of etch species, the region of surface defects on the thickness of residue layer formed during trench etching.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.107-118
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• 2013

In this paper, we developed the semiconductor monitoring system for the etching process. Around the world, expert companies are competing fiercely since the semiconductor industry is a leading value-added industry that produces the essential components of electronic products. As a result, many researches have been conducted in order to improve the quality, productivity, and characteristics of semiconductor products. Process monitoring techniques has an important role to give an equivalent quality and productivity to produce semiconductor. In fact, since the etching process to form a semiconductor circuit causes great damage to the semiconductors, it is very necessary to develop a system for monitoring the process. The proposed monitoring system is mainly focused on the dry etching process using plasma and it provides the detailed observation, analysis and feedback to managers. It has the functionality of setting scenarios to match the process control automatically. In addition, it maximizes the efficiency of process automation. The result can be immediately reflected to the system since it performs real-time monitoring. UI (User Interface) provides managers with diagnosis of the current state in the process. The monitoring system has diverse functionalities to control the process according to the scenario written in advance, to stop the process efficiently and finally to increase production efficiency.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.114-120
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• 2010

Conventional surface texturing in crystalline silicon solar cell have been use wet texturing by Alkali or Acid solution. But conventional wet texturing has the serious issue of wafer breakage by large consumption of wafer in wet solution and can not obtain the reflectance below 10% in multi crystalline silicon. Therefore it is focusing on RIE texturing, one method of dry etching. We developed large scale plasma RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) equipment which can accommodate 144 wafers (125 mm) in tray in order to provide surface texturing on the silicon wafer surface. Reflectance was controllable from 3% to 20% in crystalline silicon depending on the texture shape and height. We have achieved excellent reflectance below 4% on the weighted average (300~1,100 nm) in multi crystalline silicon using plasma texturing with gas mixture ratio such as $SF_6$, $Cl_2$, and $O_2$. The texture shape and height on the silicon wafer surface have an effect on gas chemistry, etching time, RF frequency, and so on. Excellent conversion efficiency of 16.1% is obtained in multi crystalline silicon by RIE process. In order to know the influence of RF frequency with 2 MHz and 13.56 MHz, texturing shape and conversion efficiency are compared and discussed mutually using RIE technology.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.1305-1308
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• 2003

A new technique is presented to construct a predictive model of plasma etch process. This was accomplished by combining a backpropagation neural network (BPNN) and a genetic algorithm (GA). The predictive model constructed in this way is referred to as a GA-BPNN. The GA played a role of controlling training factors simultaneously. The training factors to be optimized are the hidden neuron, training tolerance, initial weight magnitude, and two gradients of bipolar sigmoid and linear functions. Each etch response was optimized separately. The proposed scheme was evaluated with a set of experimental plasma etch data. The etch process was characterized by a $2^3$ full factorial experiment. The etch responses modeled are aluminum (A1) etch rate, silica profile angle, A1 selectivity, and dc bias. Additional test data were prepared to evaluate model appropriateness. The GA-BPNN was compared to a conventional BPNN. Compared to the BPNN, the GA-BPNN demonstrated an improvement of more than 20% for all etch responses. The improvement was significant in the case of A1 etch rate.