• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.421-426
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• 2009

We report on the capacitively coupled O2 plasma etching of PMMA and polycarbonate (PC) with a diffusion pump. Plasma process variables were process pressure and CCP power at 5 sccm $O_2$ gas flow rate. Characterization was done in order to analyze etch rate, etch selectivity, surface roughness, and morphology using stylus surface profilometry and scanning electron microscopy. Self bias decreased with increase of process pressure in the range of 25$\sim$180 mTorr. We found an important result for optimum pressure for the highest etch rate of PMMA and PC, which was 60 mTorr. PMMA and PC had etch rates of 0.46 and 0.28 ${\mu}m$/min under pressure conditions, respectively. More specifically, etch rates of the materials increased when the pressure changed from 25 mTorr to 60 mTorr. However, they reduced when the pressure increased further after 60 mTorr. RMS roughnesses of the etched surfaces were in the range of 2.2$\sim$2.9 nm. Etch selectivity of PMMA to a photoresist was $\sim$1.5:1 and that of PC was $\sim$0.9:1. Etch rate constant was about 0.04 ${\mu}m$/minW and 0.02 ${\mu}m$/minW for PMMA and PC, respectively, with the CCP power change at 5 sccm $O_2$ and 40 mTorr process pressure. PC had more erosion on the etched sidewall than PMMA did. The OES data showed that the intensity of the oxygen atomic peak (777.196 nm) proportionally increased with the CCP power.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.371-376
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• 1996

Au films with a thickness around 1600 $\AA$ were deposited onto glass at room temperature by ion beam sputtering with a 5 cm cold-hollow ion gun at pressure $1\times 10^{-6}-1\times 10^{-5}$ Torr. Irradiation of the Au deposited samples was carried out at pressure of $7\times 10^{-6}$ Torr. For the sputter depositions, $Ar^+$ ion energy was 1 keV, and the current density at the substrate surface was 15 $\mu$A/$\textrm{cm}^2$. Effects of 1 keV $Ar^+$ ion dose($I_d$) between $1\times 10^{16}\; and\;2\times 10^{17}\;Ar^+\textrm{cm}^{-2}$on properties such as crystallinity, surface roughness and adhesion, etc. of the films have been investigated. The Au films sputtered by $Ar^+$ ion beam had only (111) plane and the X-ray intensity of the films decreased with increase of $I_d$. The thickness of Au films reduced with Id. $R_{ms}$ surface roughness of the films increased from 16 $\AA$ at as-deposited to 1118 $\AA$ at ion dose= $2\times 10^{17}\;Ar^+\textrm{cm}^{-2}$. Adhesion of Au film on sputtered at $I_d$= $2\times 10^{17}\;Ar^+\textrm{cm}^{-2}$ was 9 times greater than that of Au film with untreated, as determined by a scratch test.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.578-584
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• 2017

$SiO_2$ buffer layer (100 nm) has been deposited on PET substrate by electron beam evaporation. And then, IZTO (In-Zn-Sn-O) thin film has been deposited on $SiO_2$/PET substrate with different RF power of 30 to 60 W, working pressure, 1 to 7 mTorr, by RF magnetron sputtering. Structural, electrical and optical properties of IZTO thin film have been analyzed with various RF powers and working pressures. IZTO thin film deposited on the process condition of 50 W and 3 mTorr exhibited the best characteristics, where figure of merit was $4.53{\times}10^{-3}{\Omega}^{-1}$, resistivity, $4.42{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}-cm$, sheet resistance, $27.63{\Omega}/sq.$, average transmittance (400-800 nm), 81.24%. As a result of AFM, all the IZTO thin film has no defects such as pinhole and crack, and RMS surface roughness was 1.147 nm. Due to these characteristics, IZTO thin film deposited on $SiO_2$/PET structure was found to be a very compatible material that can be applied to the next generation flexible display device.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.161-165
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• 2005

We investigated selective dry etching of GaAs over AlGaAs and InGaP in high density planar inductively coupled $BCl_3/SF_6$ plasmas. The process parameters were ICP source power (0-500 W), RE chuck power (0-30W) and gas composition $(60-100\%\;BCl_3\;in\;BCl_3/SF_6)$. 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. $BCl_3/SF_6$ selective etching of GaAs showed quite good results in this study. Selectivities of GaAs $(GaAs:AlGaAs\~36:1,\;GaAs:InGaP\~45:1)$ were superior at $18BCl_3/2SF_6$, 20 W RF chuck power, 300 W ICP source power and 7.5 mTorr. Addition of $(5-15\%)SF_6\;to\;BCl_3$ produced relatively high selectivities of GaAs over AlGaAs and InGaP during etching due to decrease of etch rates of AlGaAs and InGaP (boiling points of etch products: $AlF_3\~1300^{\circ}C,\;InF_3>1200^{\circ}C$ at atmosphere) at the condition. SEM and AFM data showed slightly sloped sidewall and somewhat rough surface$(RMS\~9nm)$. XPS study on the surface of processed GaAs proved a very clean surface after dry etching. It shows that planar inductively coupled $BCl_3/SF_6$ plasmas could be a good candidate for selective dry etching of GaAs over AlGaAs and InGaP.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.375-375
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• 2010

CdTe as an absorber material is widely used in thin film solar cells with the heterostructure due to its almost ideal band gap energy of 1.45 eV, high photovoltaic conversion efficiency, low cost and stable performance. The deposition methods and preparation conditions for the fabrication of CdTe are very important for the achievement of high solar cell conversion efficiency. There are some rearranged reports about the deposition methods available for the preparation of CdTe thin films such as close spaced sublimation (CSS), physical vapor deposition (PVD), vacuum evaporation, vapor transport deposition (VTD), closed space vapor transport, electrodeposition, screen printing, spray pyrolysis, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and RF sputtering. The RF sputtering method for the preparation of CdTe thin films has important advantages in that the thin films can be prepared at low growth temperatures with large-area deposition suitable for mass-production. The authors reported that the optical and electrical properties of CdTe thin film were closely connected by the thickness-uniformity of the film in the previous study [1], which means that the better optical absorbance and the higher carrier concentration could be obtained in the better condition of thickness-uniformity for CdTe thin film. The thickness-uniformity could be controlled and improved by the some process parameters such as vacuum level and RF power in the sputtering process of CdTe thin films. However, there is a limitation to improve the thickness-uniformity only in the preparation process [1]. So it is necessary to introduce the external or additional method for improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film because the cell size of thin film solar cell will be enlarged. Therefore, the authors firstly applied the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process to improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin films with a G&P POLI-450 CMP polisher [2]. CMP process is the most important process in semiconductor manufacturing processes in order to planarize the surface of the wafer even over 300 mm and to form the copper interconnects with damascene process. Some important CMP characteristics for CdTe were obtained including removal rate (RR), WIWNU%, RMS roughness, and peak-to-valley roughness [2]. With these important results, the CMP process for CdTe thin films was performed to improve the thickness-uniformity of the sputtering-deposited CdTe thin film which had the worst two thickness-uniformities of them. Some optical properties including optical transmittance and absorbance of the CdTe thin films were measured by using a UV-Visible spectrophotometer (Varian Techtron, Cary500scan) in the range of 400 - 800 nm. After CMP process, the thickness-uniformities became better than that of the best condition in the previous sputtering process of CdTe thin films. Consequently, the optical properties were directly affected by the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film. The absorbance of CdTe thin films was improved although the thickness of CdTe thin film was not changed.