• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.360-370
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• 2015

As the size of the semiconductor devices shrinks to nanometer scale, the importance of plasma etching process to the fabrication of nanometer scale semiconductor devices is increasing further and further. But for the nanoscale devices, conventional plasma etching technique is extremely difficult to meet the requirement of the device fabrication, therefore, other etching techniques such as use of multi frequency plasma, source/bias/gas pulsing, etc. are investigated to meet the etching target. Until today, various pulsing techniques including pulsed plasma source and/or pulse-biased plasma etching have been tested on various materials. In this review, the experimental/theoretical studies of pulsed plasmas during the nanoscale plasma etching on etch profile, etch selectivity, uniformity, etc. have been summarized. Especially, the researches of pulsed plasma on the etching of silicon, $SiO_2$, and magnetic materials in the semiconductor industry for further device scaling have been discussed. Those results demonstrated the importance of pulse plasma on the pattern control for achieving the best performance. Although some of the pulsing mechanism is not well established, it is believed that this review will give a certain understanding on the pulsed plasma techniques.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.101.2-101.2
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• 2012

Shocks are ubiquitous in astrophysical plasmas: bow shocks are formed by the interaction of solar wind with planetary magnetic fields, and supernova explosions and jets produce shocks in interstellar and intergalactic spaces. The global morphologies of these shocks are usually described by a set of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations which tacitly assumes local thermal equilibrium, and the resulting Rankine-Hugoniot shock jump conditions are applied to obtain the relationship between the upstream and downstream physical quantities. While thermal equilibrium can be achieved easily in collisional fluids, it is generally believed that collisions are infrequent in astrophysical settings. In fact, shock widths are much smaller than collisional mean free paths and a variety of kinetic phenomena are seen at the shock fronts according to in situ observations of planetary shocks. Hence, both the MHD and kinetic equations have been adopted in theoretical and numerical studies to describe different aspects of the physical phenomena associated with astrophysical shocks. In this paper, we present the results of 3D relativistic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations for ion-electron plasmas, with focus on the shock structures: when a jet propagates into an unmagnetized ambient plasma, a shock forms in the nonlinear stage of the Weibel instability. As the shock shows the structures that resemble those predicted in MHD systems, we compare the results with those predicted in the MHD shocks. We also discuss the thermalization processes of the upstream flows based on the time evolutions of the phase space and the velocity distribution, as well as the wave spectra analyses.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.71-72
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• 2007

In this study, we investigated the fabrication of MLR (multi-layer resist) with a very thin diamond-like carbon (DLC) layer. ArF PR/$SiO_2$/DLC MLR structure was investigated and etching characteristics of the DLC layer was patterned using $SiO_2$ hard-mask by varying the process parameters such as different high-frequency/low-frequency combination ($f_{LF}/f_{HF}$), HF/LF power ratio ($P_{HF}/P_{LF}$), $O_2$ flow and $N_2$ flow rate in $O_2/N_2$/Ar plasmas. The results indicated an increased etch rate of DLC for the higher $f_{LF}/f_{HF}$ combination and for the increased low-frequency power ($P_{LF}$). And the etch rate of DLC was decreased with increasing the $N_2$ flow rate in $O_2/N_2$/Ar plasmas. In order to confirm the application of DLC MLR for the etching process of silicon oxide, the stack of ArF PR/BARC/$SiO_2$/DLC/TEOS/Si was investigated.

• Food Engineering Progress
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.202-207
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• 2010

Low-pressure plasmas (LPPs) were generated with different gases such as air, oxygen and nitrogen, and their inactivation effects against Escherichia coli were compared in order to evaluate the potential as a non-thermal microbial disinfection technology. Homogeneous plasmas were generated under low pressure below 1 Torr at gas flow rate of 350 mL/min regardless the types of gases. Temperature increases by LPPs were not detrimental showing less than ${10^{\circ}C}$ and ${25^{\circ}C}$ increases after 5 and 10 min treatments, respectively. The smallest temperature increase was observed with air LPP, and followed by oxygen and nitrogen LPPs. More than 5 log reduction in E. coli was achieved by 5 min LPP treatment but the destruction effect was retarded afterward. The LPP inactivation was represented by a iphasic first order reaction kinetics. The highest inactivation rate constant was achieved in air LPP and followed by oxygen and nitrogen LPPs. The small D-values of the LPP also supported its potentialities as a non-thermal food surface disinfection technology in addition to the substantial microbial reduction of more than 5 logs.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.50-53
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• 1998

We report on the spectroscopic investigation of optical-field ionized plasmas in the soft X-ray spectral region. The experiment was carried out by focusing pulses of the high-power Ti:Sapphire laser with an energy of ~ 40 mJ and time duration of ~30 fs into a gas jet of krypton, xenon, and argon from a pulsed nozzle. Strong soft X-ray emission on lines from ionic stages of $Kr^{7+} , Kr^{8+} , Xe^{7+} , Ar^{7+} , and Ar^{8+}$ is reported. The experimental result was found to be in good agreement with theoretical prediction.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2004.07c
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• pp.1967-1968
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• 2004

최근 F. F. Chen 에 의하면 [F.F. Chen and D. Arnush, Phys. Plasmas, 8, 5051(2001)], 원통형 량뮤어 탐침의 경우 플라즈마 전위와 부유 전위의 차(${\triangle}V_{pf}$) 가 상수가 아니며 플라즈마 밀도에 따라 달라지고 밀도가 아주 높은 경우 즉 쉬스가 탐침의 반경보다 아주 얇은 경우에는 ${\triangle}V_{pf}$ 는 평면 탐침과 같이 상수가 된다는 것을 이론적으로 보였다. 이에 본 연구에서는 아르곤 유도 결합 플라즈마에서 원통형 량뮤어 탐침을 사용하여 F. F. Chen의 이론적인 결과를 실험으로 검증하였으며 F.F. Chen 의 이론적인 결과와 잘 일치하였다.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.11a
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• pp.69-69
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• 1999

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.328-332
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• 2012

Etch rates of Si and high purity SiC have been compared for various fluorocarbon plasmas. The relative plasma resistance of SiC, which is defined as the etch rate ratio of Si to SiC, varied between 1.4 and 4.1, showing generally higher plasma resistance of SiC. High resolution X-ray photoelectron analysis revealed that etched SiC has a surface carbon content higher than that of etched Si, resulting in a thicker fluorocarbon polymer layer on the SiC surface. The plasma resistance of SiC was correlated with this thick fluorocarbon polymer layer, which reduced the reaction probability of fluorine-containing species in the plasma with silicon from the SiC substrate. The remnant carbon after the removal of Si as volatile etch products augments the surface carbon, and seems to be the origin of the higher plasma resistance of SiC.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.77-77
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• 2012

As interest has increased in the interaction between low-temperature plasmas and materials, the role of modeling and simulation of processing in plasma has become important in understanding the effects of charged particles and radicals in plasma applications. Thus in this presentation, we present the theoretical and experimental studies of electron impact cross section for plasma processing gas, such as plasma etching and deposition processes. Also, here the work conducted at the Data Center for Plasma Properties (DCPP) over last 7 years on the systematic synthesis and assessment of fundamental knowledge on low-energy electron interactions with plasma processing gases is briefly summarized and discussed.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.74-77
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• 2017

In this work, we investigated the etching characteristics of TaNO thin films and the selectivity of TaNO to $SiO_2$ in an $O_2$/CF4/Ar inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system. The maximum etch rate of TaNO thin film was 297.1 nm/min at a gas mixing ratio of O2/CF4/Ar (6:16:4 sccm). At the same time, the etch rate was measured as a function of the etching parameters, such as the RF power, DC-bias voltage, and process pressure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed the efficient destruction of the oxide bonds by the ion bombardment, as well as the accumulation of low volatile reaction products on the etched surface. Based on these data, the ion-assisted chemical reaction was proposed as the main etch mechanism for the $CF_4$-containing plasmas.