• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.352.2-352.2
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• 2014

In this present work, we report a Cu-Mn alloy as a materials for the self-forming barrier process. And we investigated diffusion barrier properties of self-formed layer on low-k dielectrics with or without UV curing treatment. Cu alloy films were directly deposited onto low-k dielectrics by co-sputtering, followed by annealing at various temperatures. X-ray diffraction revealed Cu (111), Cu (200) and Cu (220) peaks for both of Cu alloys. The self-formed layers were investigated by transmission electron microscopy. In order to compare barrier properties between Mn-based interlayer interlayer, thermal stability was measured with various low-k dielectrics. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed that chemical compositions of self-formed layer. The compositions of the Mn based self-formed barriers after annealing were determined by the C concentration in the dielectric layers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.214.2-214.2
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• 2013

Device performance for the 45 and 32 nm node CMOS technology requires the integration of ultralow-k materials. To lower the dielectric constant for PECVD and spin-on materials, partial replacement of the solid network with air (k=1.01) appears to be more intuitive and direct option. This can be achieved introducting of second "labile" phase during depositoin that is removed during a subsequent UV curing and annealing step. Besides, with shrinking line dimensions the resistivity of barrier films cannot meet the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) requirements. To solve this issue self-forming diffusion barriers have drawn attention for great potential technique in meeting all ITRS requirments. In this present work, we report a Cu-V alloy as a materials for the self-forming barrier process. And we investigated diffusion barrier properties of self-formed layer on low-k dielectrics with or without UV curing treatment. Cu alloy films were directly deposited onto low-k dielectrics by co-sputtering, followed by annealing at various temperatures. X-ray diffraction revealed Cu (111), Cu (200) and Cu (220) peaks for both of Cu alloys. The self-formed layers were investigated by transmission electron microscopy. In order to compare barrier properties between V-based interlayer on low-k dielectric with UV curing and interlayer on low-k dielectric without UV curing, thermal stability was measured with various heat treatment temperature. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed that chemical compositions of self-formed layer. The compositions of the V based self-formed barriers after annealing were strongly dominated by the O concentration in the dielectric layers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.188-188
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• 2011

Recently, scaling down of ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration) circuit of CMOS (Complementary Meta Oxide Semiconductor) based electronic devices, the electronic devices, become much faster and smaller size that are promising property of semiconductor market. However, very narrow interconnect line width has some disadvantages. Deposition of conformal and thin barrier is not easy. And metallization process needs deposition of diffusion barrier and glue layer for EP/ELP deposition. Thus, there is not enough space for copper filling process. In order to get over these negative effects, simple process of copper metallization is important. In this study, Cu-V alloy layer was deposited using of DC/RF magnetron sputter deposition system. Cu-V alloy film was deposited on the plane SiO2/Si bi-layer substrate with smooth surface. Cu-V film's thickness was about 50 nm. Cu-V alloy film deposited at $150^{\circ}C$. XRD, AFM, Hall measurement system, and AES were used to analyze this work. For the barrier formation, annealing temperature was 300, 400, $500^{\circ}C$ (1 hour). Barrier thermal stability was tested by I-V(leakage current) and XRD analysis after 300, 500, $700^{\circ}C$ (12 hour) annealing. With this research, over $500^{\circ}C$ annealed barrier has large leakage current. However vanadium-based diffusion barrier annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ has good thermal stability. Therefore thermal stability of vanadium-based diffusion barrier is desirable for copper interconnection.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.41.2-41.2
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• 2011

Recently, scaling down of ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration) circuit of CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) based electronic devices become much faster speed and smaller size than ever before. However, very narrow interconnect line width causes some drawbacks. For example, deposition of conformal and thin barrier is not easy moreover metallization process needs deposition of diffusion barrier and glue layer. Therefore, there is not enough space for copper filling process. In order to overcome these negative effects, simple process of copper metallization is required. In this research, Cu-V thin alloy film was formed by using RF magnetron sputter deposition system. Cu-V alloy film was deposited on the plane $SiO_2$/Si bi-layer substrate with smooth and uniform surface. Cu-V film thickness was about 50 nm. Cu-V layer was deposited at RT, 100, 150, 200, and $250^{\circ}C$. XRD, AFM, Hall measurement system, and XPS were used to analyze Cu-V thin film. For the barrier formation, Cu-V film was annealed at 200, 300, 400, 500, and $600^{\circ}C$ (1 hour). As a result, V-based thin interlayer between Cu-V film and $SiO_2$ dielectric layer was formed by itself with annealing. Thin interlayer was confirmed by TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope) analysis. Barrier thermal stability was tested with I-V (for measuring leakage current) and XRD analysis after 300, 400, 500, 600, and $700^{\circ}C$ (12 hour) annealing. With this research, over $500^{\circ}C$ annealed barrier has large leakage current. However V-based diffusion barrier annealed at $400^{\circ}C$ has good thermal stability. Thus, thermal stability of vanadium-based thin interlayer as diffusion barrier is good for copper interconnection.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.91-92
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• 2006

The electrical properties of viologen derivatives were studied in terms of the tunneling current characteristics on the length of the viologen derivatives using self-assembling techniques and ultra high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy (UHV-STM). We fabricated the Au substrate were deposited by thermal evaporation system ($420^{\circ}C$. Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) were prepared on Au (111), which had been thermally deposited onto freshly cleaved, heated mica. The Au substrate was exposed to a 1 mM solution of viologen derivatives in ethanol for 24 hours to form a monolayer. We measurement of the morphology on the single viologen molecules ($VC_{8}SH$, $VC_{10}SH$, $HSC_{8}VC_{8}SH$, and $HSC_{10}VC_{10}SH$). The current-voltage (I-V) and differential conductance (dl/dV-V) properties were measured while the electrical properties of the formed monolayer were scanned by using a STS. The effective barrier height of viologen derivatives ($VC_{8}SH$, $VC_{10}SH$, $HSC_{8}VC_{8}SH$, and $HSC_{10}VC_{10}SH$) were calculated to be 1.076 eV, 1.56 ${\pm}$ 0.3 eV, 1.85 eV, 2.28 eV, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.229-229
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• 2010

With the scaling down of ultra large integrated circuits (ULSI) to the sub-50 nm technology node, the need for an ultra-thin, continuous and conformal diffusion barrier and Cu seed layer is increasing. However, diffusion barrier and Cu seed layer formation with a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method has become difficult as the technology node is reduced to 30 nm and beyond. Recent work on self-forming barrier processes using PVD Cu alloys have attracted great attention due to the capability of conformal ultra-thin barrier formation using a simple technique. However, as in the case of the conventional barrier and Cu seed layer, PVD of the Cu alloy seed layer will eventually encounter the difficulty in conformal deposition in narrow line trenches and via holes. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has been known for its good step coverage and precise thickness control, and is a candidate technique for the formation of a thin conformal barrier layer and Cu seed layer. Conformal Cu-Mn seed layers were deposited by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) at low temperature ($120^{\circ}C$), and the Mn content in the Cu-Mn alloys were controlled form 0 to approximately 10 atomic percent with various Mn precursor feeding times. Resistivity of the Cu-Mn alloy films decreased by annealing due to out-diffusion of Mn atoms. Out-diffused Mn atoms were segregated to the surface of the film and interface between a Cu-Mn alloy and $SiO_2$, resulting in self-formed $MnO_x$ and $MnSi_xO_y$, respectively. No inter-diffusion was observed between Cu and $SiO_2$ after annealing at $500^{\circ}C$ for 12 h, indicating an excellent diffusion barrier property of the $MnSi_xO_y$. The adhesion between Cu and $SiO_2$ was enhanced by the formation of $MnSi_xO_y$. Continuous and conductive Cu-Mn seed layers were deposited with PEALD into 32 nm $SiO_2$ trench, enabling a low temperature process, and the trench was perfectly filled using electrochemical plating (ECD) under conventional conditions. Thus, it is the resultant self-forming barrier process with PEALD Cu-Mn alloy film as a seed layer for plating Cu that has further potential to meet the requirement of the smaller than 30 nm node.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.236-246
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• 2010

In preparative anti-corrosive coating experiments, polyaniline was obtained by reacting an oxidizing agent with the monomer aniline. Further, the primer coating was prepared using a variety of widely-used materials such as urethane resin. For the top coating, epoxy resin and acrylic urethane resin were used. Characteristics of the coatings were assessed according to KS and ASTM specifications, and the structure of the polyaniline was characterized using FT-IR and TGA. For analysis of anti-corrosive properties in salt-spray experiments, measurements of the oxidation state of iron and surface atomic analysis were conducted using XPS and SEM-EDX. Unlike general anti-corrosive coatings which exhibit anti-corrosive effects only as a primer coating, the anti-corrosive coatings using polyaniline as the anti-corrosive pigment showed a marked synergistic effect with the top coatings. In other words, the top coatings not only produce a fine view effect, but also increase, through interaction with the primer coatings, the resistance to diffusion of corrosive factors from the external environment. It was also found that, unlike the heavy metal oxide-forming layer of the passive barrier alone, the polyaniline anti-corrosive pigment oxidized iron at the interface with the iron substrate to form a passive barrier in the oxidic layer, and itself formed a potential barrier layer with anti-corrosive factors from the external environment. Although the passive layer was damaged, the damaged area did not become completely oxidized iron; on the contrary, it showed a tendency to reduction. This can be interpreted such that a passive layer is formed again on the damaged area, and that at the same time there is a tendency to self-healing.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2001

Josephson junction arrays were fabricated by DC magnetron sputtering, self-aligning and reactive ion etching technique. The Al native oxide, formed by thermal oxidation, was used as the tunneling barrier of Nb/$Al-A1_2$$O_3$Nb trilayer. The arrays have 2,000 Josephson junctions with the area of $14\mu\textrm{m}$ $\times$ $46\mu\textrm{m}$. The gap voltages were in the range of 2.5 ~2.6 mV and the spread of critical current was $\pm$11~14%. When operated at 70~94 ㎓, the arrays generated zero-crossing steps up to 2.1~2.4 V. To improve transmission of microwave power and prevent diffusion of oxygen into Nb ground-plane while depositing $SiO_2$dielectric, we applied a plasma nitridation process to the Nb ground-plane. The microwave power was well propagated in Josephson junction arrays with nitridation. The difference in microwave transmission 7an be interpreted by the surface impedance change depending on nitridation.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.623-632
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• 2007

Thermosensitive nanoparticles were prepared via the self-assembly of two different $poly({\varepsilon}-caprolactone)$-based block copolymers of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-b-$poly({\varepsilon}-caprolactone)$ (PNPCL) and poly(ethylene glycol)-b-$poly({\varepsilon}-caprolactone)$ (PEGCL). The self-aggregation and thermosensitive behaviors of the mixed nanoparticles were investigated using $^1H-NMR$, turbidimetry, differential scanning microcalorimetry (micro-DSC), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and fluorescence spectroscopy. The copolymer mixtures (mixed nanoparticles, M1-M5, with different PNPCL content) formed nano-sized self-aggregates in an aqueous environment via the intra- and/or intermolecular association of hydrophobic PCL chains. The microscopic investigation of the mixed nanoparticles showed that the critical aggregation concentration (cac), the partition equilibrium constants $(K_v)$ of pyrene, and the aggregation number of PCL chains per one hydrophobic microdomain varied in accordance with the compositions of the mixed nanoparticles. Furthermore, the PNPCL harboring mixed nanoparticles evidenced phase transition behavior, originated by coil to the globule transition of PNiPAAm block upon heating, thereby resulting in the turbidity change, endothermic heat exchange, and particle size reduction upon heating. The drug release tests showed that the formation of the thermosensitive hydrogel layer enhanced the sustained drug release patterns by functioning as an additional diffusion barrier.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.32A no.11
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• pp.35-43
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• 1995

To obtain high quality of $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ film, two dielectric layers of $Si_{3}N_{4}$ and $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ were subsequently formed on Si wafer. Silicon nitride films were thermally grown in 10 Torr ammonia ambient by R.F induced heating system. The thickness of thermally grown $Si_{3}N_{4}$ film was able to be controlled in the range of tens $\AA$ due to the self-limited growth property. $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ film of 200$\AA$ thickness was then deposited on the as-grown $Si_{3}N_{4}$ film about 25$\AA$ thickness by sputtering method and annealed at $900^{\circ}C$in $O_{2}$ ambient for 1hr. Stoichiometry film was prepared by the annealing in oxygen ambient. Despite the high temperature anneal process, silicon oxide layer was not grown at the interface of the layered films because of the oxidation barrier effect of Si$_{3}$N$_{4}$ film. The fabricated $Ta_{2}O_{5}$/$Si_{3}N_{4}$ film showed low leakage current less than several nA and high dielectric breakdown strength.