• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.363-363
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• 2008

The development of dry etching process for sapphire wafer with plasma has been key issues for the opto-electric devices. The challenges are increasing control and obtaining low plasma induced-damage because an unwanted scattering of radiation is caused by the spatial disorder of pattern and variation of surface roughness. The plasma-induced damages during plasma etching process can be classified as impurity contamination of residual etch products or bonding disruption in lattice due to charged particle bombardment. Therefor, fine pattern technology with low damaged etching process and high etch rate are urgently needed. Until now, there are a lot of reports on the etching of sapphire wafer with using $Cl_2$/Ar, $BCl_3$/Ar, HBr/Ar and so on [1]. However, the etch behavior of sapphire wafer have investigated with variation of only one parameter while other parameters are fixed. In this study, we investigated the effect of pressure and other parameters on the etch rate and the selectivity. We selected $BCl_3$ as an etch ant because $BCl_3$ plasmas are widely used in etching process of oxide materials. In plasma, the $BCl_3$ molecule can be dissociated into B radical, $B^+$ ion, Cl radical and $Cl^+$ ion. However, the $BCl_3$ molecule can be dissociated into B radical or $B^+$ ion easier than Cl radical or $Cl^+$ ion. First, we evaluated the etch behaviors of sapphire wafer in $BCl_3$/additive gases (Ar, $N_2,Cl_2$) gases. The behavior of etch rate of sapphire substrate was monitored as a function of additive gas ratio to $BCl_3$ based plasma, total flow rate, r.f. power, d.c. bias under different pressures of 5 mTorr, 10 mTorr, 20 mTorr and 30 mTorr. The etch rates of sapphire wafer, $SiO_2$ and PR were measured with using alpha step surface profiler. In order to understand the changes of radicals, volume density of Cl, B radical and BCl molecule were investigated with optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The chemical states of $Al_2O_3$ thin films were studied with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and depth profile anlysis of auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The enhancement of sapphire substrate can be explained by the reactive ion etching mechanism with the competition of the formation of volatile $AlCl_3$, $Al_2Cl_6$ or $BOCl_3$ and the sputter effect by energetic ions.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.10-17
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• 2018

POU (point of use) scrubbers were applied for the treatment of waste gases including PFCs (perfluorocompounds) exhausted from the CVD (chemical vapor deposition), etching, and cleaning processes of semiconductor and display manufacturing plant. The GWP (global warming potential) and atmosphere lifetime of PFCs are known to be a few thousands higher than that of $CO_2$, and extremely high temperature more than 3,000 K is required to thermally decompose PFCs. Therefore, POU gas scrubbers based on the thermal plasma technology were developed for the effective control of PFCs and industrial application of the technology. The thermal plasma technology encompasses the generation of powerful plasma via the optimization of the plasma torch, a highly stable power supply, and the matching technique between two components. In addition, the effective mixture of the high temperature plasma and waste gases was also necessary for the highly efficient abatement of PFCs. The purpose of this paper was to provide not only a useful technical information of the post-treatment process for the waste gas scrubbing but also a short perspective on R&D of POU plasma gas scrubbers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.234.2-234.2
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• 2014

Organic light emitting diode (OLED) is considered as the next generation flat panel displays due to its advantages of low power consumption, fast response time, broad viewing angle and flexibility. For the flexible application, it is essential to develop thin film encapsulation (TFE) to protect oxidation of organic materials from oxidative species such as oxygen and water vapor [1]. In many TFE research, the inorganic film by atomic layer deposition (ALD) process demonstrated a good barrier property. However, extremely low throughput of ALD process is considered as a major weakness for industrial application. Recently, there has been developed a high throughput ALD, called 'spatial ALD' [2]. In spatial ALD, the precursors and reactant gases are supplied continuously in same chamber, but they are separated physically using a purge gas streams to prevent mixing of the precursors and reactant gases. In this study, the $Al_2O_3$ thin film was deposited by spatial ALD process. We characterized various process variables in the spatial ALD such as temperature, scanning speed, and chemical compositions. Water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) was determined by calcium resistance test and less than $10-^3g/m^2{\cdot}day$ was achieved. The samples were analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM).

• Journal of Korean Vacuum Science & Technology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.55-60
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• 2000

Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes on nickel coated glass substrates were obtained at low temperatures below 600$\^{C}$ by plasma enhanced hot filament chemical vapor deposition where acetylene gas was used as the carbon source and ammonia gas was used as the dilution gas and catalyst. The diameters of the nanotubes decreased from 96 m to 41 m as NH$_3$/C$_2$H$_2$ ratio increased from 2:1 to 5:1. Total flow rate of input gases with constant NH$_3$/C$_2$H$_2$ ratio did not change the diameter of carbon nanotubes. No growth of the carbon nanotubes was observed with only C$_2$H$_2$ nor N$_2$ instead of NH$_2$. G line and D line in Raman spectra were observed, which implies that there were many structural defects in carbon nanotubes.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.152-158
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• 1994

Diamondlike carbon thin film have been fabricated using methane as a reactive gas by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Effects of hydrogen gas on the optical properties of the thin film has been investigated. When the hydrogen was used as a secondary gas, the role of hydrogen changed with deposition power unlike inert gases such as Ar and He. From the changes of optical band gap and FT-IR analysis, it was predicted that the chemical etching, sputtering of C-H bond by hydrogen and the implantation of hydrogen into the thin film could occur. The validity of the possibilities was confirmed by examining the effect of secondary gases such as Ar and He.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.45-50
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• 2013

This paper focuses on the fundamental issues for improving the efficiency and throughput of the AC PDP (Plasma Display Panel) manufacturing. The properties of the MgO protective layer affect the PDP efficiency. Especially, the secondary electron emission efficiency was affected on the deposition rate of MgO during the evaporation. In this study, the deposition rate of 5 $\AA$/s has given the maximum efficiency value of 0.05 It is demonstrated that the impurity gases such as $H_2O$, $CO_2$, CO or $N_2$, and $O_2$ can be remained inside the PDP panel before sealing and the amount of the impurity gases decreased rapidly as the base vacuum level increased, especially near $10^{-5}$ torr. The fundamental solution in order to overcome these problems is the vacuum in-line sealing process from the MgO evaporation to the final sealing of the panel without breaking the vacuum. We have demonstrated this fundamental process technology and shown the feasibility. The firing voltage was reduced down to 285 V at the base vacuum value of $10^{-6}$ torr, whreras it was about 328 V at the base vacuum value of $10^{-3}$ torr.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.221-221
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• 2014

The present work proposes an improved numerical simulator for design and modification of large area capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) processing chamber. CCP, as notoriously well-known, demands the tremendously huge computational cost for carrying out transient analyses in realistic multi-dimensional models, because electron dissociations take place in a much smaller time scale (${\Delta}t{\approx}10-8{\sim}10-10$) than time scale of those happened between neutrals (${\Delta}t{\approx}10-1{\sim}10-3$), due to the rf drive frequencies of external electric field. And also, for spatial discretization of electron flux (Je), exponential scheme such as Scharfetter-Gummel method needs to be used in order to alleviate the numerical stiffness and resolve exponential change of spatial distribution of electron temperature (Te) and electron number density (Ne) in the vicinity of electrodes. Due to such computational intractability, it is prohibited to simulate CCP deposition in a three-dimension within acceptable calculation runtimes (<24 h). Under the situation where process conditions require thickness non-uniformity below 5%, however, detailed flow features of reactive gases induced from three-dimensional geometric effects such as gas distribution through the perforated plates (showerhead) should be considered. Without considering plasma chemistry, we therefore simulated flow, temperature and species fields in three-dimensional geometry first, and then, based on that data, boundary conditions of two-dimensional plasma discharge model are set. In the particular case of SiH4-NH3-N2-He CCP discharge to produce deposition of SiNxHy thin film, a cylindrical showerhead electrode reactor was studied by numerical modeling of mass, momentum and energy transports for charged particles in an axi-symmetric geometry. By solving transport equations of electron and radicals simultaneously, we observed that the way how source gases are consumed in the non-isothermal flow field and such consequences on active species production were outlined as playing the leading parts in the processes. As an example of application of the model for the prediction of the deposited thickness uniformity in a 300 mm wafer plasma processing chamber, the results were compared with the experimentally measured deposition profiles along the radius of the wafer varying inter-electrode gap. The simulation results were in good agreement with experimental data.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.156-159
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• 2018

Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) treatment with argon and a mixture of argon and oxygen gases has been used to modify the surface of polycarbonate (PC) substrates. The results showed that the surface contact angle was inversely proportional to the plasma discharge power and that the mixed-gas plasma (gas flow 10:10 sccm, discharge power 60 W) decreased the surface contact angle as low as $18.3^{\circ}$, indicating a large increase in the surface hydrophilicity. In addition, $SnO_2$ thin films deposited on the PC substrate effectively enhanced the ICP plasma treatment, and could also enhance the usefulness of PC in the inner parts of automobiles.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.45-51
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• 2014

This work carried out for the effective synthesis characteristics of graphene nanowall film by controlling the electric field in a RF plasma CVD process. For that, the bipolar bias voltage was applied to the substrate such as Si and glass materials for the best chemical reaction of positive and negative charges existing in the plasma. For supplying the seed formation sites on substrate and removing the oxidation layer on the substrate surface, the electron bombardment into substrates was performed by a positive few voltage in hydrogen plasma. After that, hydrocarbon film, which is not a graphene nanowall, was deposited on substrates under a negative bias voltage with hydrogen and methane gases. At this step, the film on substrates could not easily identify due to its transparent characteristics. However, the transparent film was easily changed into graphene nanowall by the final hydrogen plasma treatment process. The resultant raman spectra shows the existence of significant large 2D peaks corresponding to the graphene.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.11 no.4 s.33
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• pp.29-35
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• 2004

We have deposited the W-N diffusion barrier on Si substrate with $NH_3$ pulse plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PPALD) method by using $WF_6$ and $NH_3$ gases. The $WF_6$ gas reacts with Si that the surface corrosion occurs severely, but the $NH_3$ gas incorporated with pulse plasma and $WF_6$ gas are easily deposited W-N thin film without Si surface corrosion. Because the $NH_3$ with pulse plasma can be active species dissociated and chemisorbed on Si. Thus the Si surface are covered and saturated with nitrogen, which are able to deposit the W-N thin film. We also examine the deposition mechanism and the effect of $NH_3$ pulse plasma treatment.