• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.136.1-136.1
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• 2015

In the present study, UHF (320 MHz) in combination with RF (13.56 MHz) plasmas was used for the synthesis of hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiNx:H) films by PECVD process at low temperature. RF/UHF hybrid plasmas were maintained at a fixed pressure of 410 mTorr in the N2/SiH4 and N2/SiH4/NH3 atmospheres. To investigate the radical generation and plasma formation and their control for the growth of the film, plasma diagnostic tools like vacuum ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy (VUVAS), optical emission spectroscopy (OES), and RF compensated Langmuir probe (LP) were utilized. Utilization of RF/UHF hybrid plasmas enables very high plasma densities ~ 1011 cm-3 with low electron temperature. Measurements using VUVAS reveal the UHF source is quite effective in the dissociation of the N2 gas to generate more active atomic N. It results in the enhancement of the Si-N bond concentration in the film. Consequently, the deposition rate has been significantly improved up to 2nm/s for the high rate synthesis of highly transparent (up to 90 %) SiNx:H film. The films properties such as optical transmittance and chemical composition are investigated using different analysis tools.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.35-41
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• 2004

In computational study on RF(Radio Frequency) plasmas, a 1D fluid models with an advantage of a short computational time are often adopted. However, in order to obtain realistic calculation results under a typical chamber geometry with unequal-sized electrodes, modeling of the plasma space is an issue to be investigated. In this paper, it is focused on that how much a 1D model can approximate a 2D model. 1D fluid models with unequal-sized electrodes, which have spherical and frustum geometry systems, were developed and their results were compared with those of 2D model with Gaseous Electronic Conference cell structure. Behavior of $N_2$ RF plasmas has been simulated using 1D and 2D fluid models and a technique to take account of unequal-sized electrodes in a 1D fluid models has been examined. Features of the plasma density and the electric potential were discussed as characteristic quantities representing the asymmetry of the chamber geometry.

• Bulletin of the Korean Space Science Society
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.82-82
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• 2003

It is well known that electromagnetic (EM) waves are mode converted to electrostatic (ES) waves in inhomogeneous plasmas. We examine this issue in a three-dimensional multi-fluid numerical model. First, we derive a set of coupled linear wave equations when a one-dimensional inhomogeneous density profile is assumed in a cold and collisionless plasma. The massive ions are considered as fixed because we are interested in high frequency waves in plasmas. It is shown that the EM mode satisfies the 0th order modified Bessel equation near the resonant region where the frequency matches the local electron plasma frequency. It is expected that the EM waves are coupled and damped to the ES waves owing to the logarithmic singular behavior at such resonances. Second, we numerically test the same case in a 3-D multi-fluid model. An impulsive input is assumed to excite EM waves in the inhomogeneous 3-D box model. The wave spectra of electric and magnetic fields are presented and compared with the analytical results. Our results suggest that the EM energy is irreversibly converted into the ES energy wherever the resonant condition is satisfied. Finally we discuss how the mode conversion appears in both electric and magnetic fields by analyzing time histories of each component. We also compare our results with MHD wave coupling. It is numerically confirmed in this study that the coupling of EM and ES waves is similar to that of compressional and transverse MHD waves.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.311-315
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• 2014

In this study, we investigated the effect of space plasmas on the floating potential variation of a low-altitude, polar-orbiting satellite using the Langmuir Probe (LP) measurement onboard the STSAT-1 spacecraft. We focused on small potential drops, for which the estimation of plasma density and temperature from LP is available. The floating potential varied according to the variations of plasma density and temperature, similar to the previously reported observations. Most of the potential drops occurred around the nightside auroral region. However, unlike the previous studies where large potential drops were observed with the precipitation of auroral electrons, the potential drops occurred before or after the precipitation of auroral electrons. Statistical analysis shows that the potential drops have good correlation with the temperature increase of cold electrons, which suggests the small potential drops be mainly controlled by the cold ionospheric plasmas.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.7551-7554
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• 2013

Tumor-associated microRNAs have been detected in serum or plasma, but whether plasma microRNA-21 (miR-21) could be a potential circulating biomarker for gastric cancer (GC) prognosis in Chinese is still uncertain. Real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) was employed in this study to compare the relative expression of miR-21 between pre-operative and post-operative paired plasmas from 42 patients with primary GCs. The results showed that the expression levels of miR-21 in the post-operative plasmas were significantly reduced by an average of 18.2 times in all patients when compared to the pre-operative plasmas, and by 22.1 times in the subgroup of patients without family history, while only 1.76 times in the subgroup of patients with a family history. With respect of clinicopathological characteristics, the plasma miR-21 expression was highly associated with differentiation degree and lymph node metastasis rate. The results suggested plasma miR-21 could be a novel potential biomarker for GC prognosis and evaluation of surgery outcomes, especially in patients without a family history.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.635-639
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• 2003

We investigated dry etching of GaAs and AiGaAs in a high density planar inductively coupled plasma system with BCl$_3$and BCl$_3$/Ar gas chemistry. A detailed etch process study of GaAs and ALGaAs was peformed as functions of ICP source power, RIE chuck power and mixing ratio of $BCl_3$ and Ar. Chamber process pressure was fixed at 7.5 mTorr in this study. The ICP source power and RIE chuck power were varied from 0 to 500 W and from 0 to 150 W, respectively. GaAs etch rate increased with the increase of ICP source power and RIE chuck power. It was also found that etch rates of GaAs in $15BCi_3$/5Ar plasmas were relatively high with applied RIE chuck power compared to pure 20 sccm $BCl_3$plasmas. The result was the same as AlGaAs. We expect that high ion-assisted effect in $BCl_3$/Ar plasma increased etch rates of both materials. The GaAs and AlGaAs features etched at 20 sccm $BCl_3$and $15BCl_3$/5Ar with 300 W ICP source power, 100 W RIE chuck power and 7.5 mTorr showed very smooth surfaces(RMS roughness < 2 nm) and excellent sidewall. XPS study on the surfaces of processed GaAs also proved extremely clean surfaces of the materials after dry etching.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.16-16
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• 2011

Plasmas in saline solutions receive considerable attention in recent years. How the operating parameters influence the plasma characteristics and how the electrode erosion occurs have been topics that require further study. In the first part of this talk, the effect of the frequency on the plasmas characteristics in saline solution driven by 50~1000 Hz AC power will be presented. Two distinct modes, namely bubble and jetting modes, are identified. The bubble mode occurs under low frequencies. In this mode, one mm-sized bubble is tightly attached to the electrode tip and oscillates with the applied voltage. With an increase in the frequency, it shows the jetting mode, in which many smaller bubbles are continuous formed and jetted away from the electrode surface. Multiple mechanisms that are potentially responsible to such a change in bubble dynamics have been proposed and the dominant mechanism is identified. From the Stark broadening of the hydrogen optical emission line, electron densities in both modes are estimated. It shows clearly that the driving frequency greatly influences the bubble dynamics, which in turn alters the plasma behavior. In the second part, the study of the erosion of a tungsten electrode immersed in saline solution under conditions suitable for bio-medical applications is presented. The electrode is immersed in 0.1 M saline solution and is positively or negatively biased using a DC power source up to 600 V. It is identified that when the electrode is positively biased, erosion by the surface electrolytic oxidation is the dominant mechanism with an applied voltage below 150 V. An increase in the applied voltage leads to the formation of the plasma and the damage by the plasma and the thermal effect becomes more prominent. The formation of the gas film at the electrode surface leads to the formation of the plasma and hinders the electrolytic erosion. In the negatively-biased electrode, no electrolytic oxidation is seen and the damage is mostly likely due to the plasma erosion and the thermal effect.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.210-210
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• 2011

The effects of CH2F2 and N2 gas flow rates on the etch selectivity of silicon nitride (Si3N4) layers to extreme ultra-violet (EUV) resist and the variation of the line edge roughness (LER) of the EUV resist and Si3N4 pattern were investigated during etching of a Si3N4/EUV resist structure in dual-frequency superimposed CH2F2/N2/Ar capacitive coupled plasmas (DFS-CCP). The flow rates of CH2F2 and N2 gases played a critical role in determining the process window for ultra-high etch selectivity of Si3N4/EUV resist due to disproportionate changes in the degree of polymerization on the Si3N4 and EUV resist surfaces. Increasing the CH2F2 flow rate resulted in a smaller steady state CHxFy thickness on the Si3N4 and, in turn, enhanced the Si3N4 etch rate due to enhanced SiF4 formation, while a CHxFy layer was deposited on the EUV resist surface protecting the resist under certain N2 flow conditions. The LER values of the etched resist tended to increase at higher CH2F2 flow rates compared to the lower CH2F2 flow rates that resulted from the increased degree of polymerization.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.144-144
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• 2013

Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasmas have recently garnered much attention due to their unique physical and chemical properties that are sometimes significantly different from those of low pressure plasmas. It can offer many possible application areas including nano and bio/medical areas. Many different types of plasma sources have been developed for specific needs, which can be one of the important merits of the atmospheric pressure plasmas since characteristics of the produced plasma depend significantly on operating parameters such as driving frequency, supply gas type, driving voltage waveform, gas flow rate, gas composition, geometrical factor etc. Among many source configurations, parallel plate type geometry is one of the simplest configurations so that it can offer many insights for understanding basic underlying physics. Traditionally, the parallel plate type set up has been studied actively for understanding low pressure plasma physics along with extensive employment in industries for the same reason. By considering that understanding basic physics, in conjunction with plasma-surface interactions especially for nano & bio materials, should be pursued in parallel with applications, we investigated atmospheric pressure discharge characteristics in a parallel plate type capacitive discharge source with two parallel copper electrodes of 60 mm in diameter and several millimeters in gap distance. In this presentation, some plasma characteristics by varying many operating variables such as inter-electrode distance, gas pressure, gas composition, driving frequency etc will be discussed. The results may be utilized for plasma control for widening application flexibility.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.142-142
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• 1999