• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.215-222
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• 2001

Neural network based models of semiconductor manufacturing processes have been shown to offer advantages in both accuracy and generalization over traditional methods. However, model development is often complicated by the fact that back-propagation neural networks contain several adjustable parameters whose optimal values unknown during training. These include learning rate, momentum, training tolerance, and the number of hidden layer neurOnS. This paper presents an investigation of the use of genetic algorithms (GAs) to determine the optimal neural network parameters for the modeling of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of silicon dioxide films. To find an optimal parameter set for the neural network PECVD models, a performance index was defined and used in the GA objective function. This index was designed to account for network prediction error as well as training error, with a higher emphasis on reducing prediction error. The results of the genetic search were compared with the results of a similar search using the simplex algorithm.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.11-17
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• 2013

Silicon nitride($SiN_x:H$) deposited by radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition(RF-PECVD) is commonly used for anti-reflection coating and passivation in crystalline silicon solar cell fabrication. In this paper, characteristics of the deposited silicon nitride was studied with change of working pressure, deposition temperature, gas ratio of $NH_3$ and $SiH_4$, and RF power during deposition. The deposition rate, refractive index and effective lifetime were analyzed. The (100) p-type silicon wafers with one-side polished, $660-690{\mu}m$, and resistivity $1-10{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ were used. As a result, when the working pressure increased, the deposition rate of SiNx was increased while the effective life time for the $SiN_x$-deposited wafer was decreased. The result regarding deposition temperature, gas ratio and RF power changes would be explained in detail below. In this paper, the optimized condition in silicon nitride deposition for silicon solar cell was obtained as 1.0 Torr for the working pressure, $400^{\circ}C$ for deposition temperature, 500 W for RF power and 0.88 for $NH_3/SiH_4$ gas ratio. The silicon nitride layer deposited in this condition showed the effective life time of > $1400{\mu}s$ and the surface recombination rate of 25 cm/s. The crystalline silicon solar cell fabricated with this SiNx coating showed 18.1% conversion efficiency.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.434-442
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• 2014

Serious environmental problems have been caused by the greenhouse effect due to carbon dioxide($CO_2$) or nitrogen oxides($NO_x$) generated by the use of fossil fuels, including oil and liquefied natural gas. Many countries, including our own, the United States, those of the European Union and other developed countries around the world; have shown growing interest in clean energy, and have been concentrating on the development of new energy-saving materials and devices. Typical non-fossil-fuel sources include solar cells, wind power, tidal power, nuclear power, and fuel cells. In particular, organic solar cells(OSCs) have relatively low power-conversion efficiency(PCE) in comparison with inorganic(silicon) based solar cells, compound semiconductor solar cells and the CIGS [$Cu(In_{1-x}Ga_x)Se_2$] thin film solar cells. Recently, organic cell efficiencies greater than 10 % have been obtained by means of the development of new organic semiconducting materials, which feature improvements in crystalline properties, as well as in the quantum-dot nano-structure of the active layers. In this paper, a brief overview of solar cells in general is presented. In particular, the current development status of the next-generation OSCs including their operation principle, device-manufacturing processes, and improvements in the PCE are described.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.38 no.7
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• pp.513-519
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• 2001

We proposed Si-rich tungsten silicide (WSix) films for alternate gate electrode of deep-submicron MOSFETs. The investigation of WSix films deposited directly on SiO$_2$ indicated that the annealing of as-deposited films using a rapid thermal processor (RTP) results in low resitivity, as well as negligible fluorine (F) diffusion. Specifically, the resitivity of RTP-annealed samples at 800 $^{\circ}C$ for 3 minutes in vacuum was ~160 $\mu$$\Omega$ . cm, and the irregular growth of an extra SiO$_2$ layer due to F diffusion during annealing has not been observed. In addition, the analysis of the WSix-SiO$_2$-Si (MOS) capacitors exhibits excellent electrical characteristics.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.117-123
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• 2004

A 30 nm $In_{0.7}GaAs$ High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) with triple-gate has been successfully fabricated using the $SiO_2/SiN_x$ sidewall process and BCB planarization. The sidewall gate process was used to obtain finer lines, and the width of the initial line could be lessened to half by this process. To fill the Schottky metal effectively to a narrow gate line after applying the developed sidewall process, the sputtered tungsten (W) metal was utilized instead of conventional e-beam evaporated metal. To reduce the parasitic capacitance through dielectric layers and the gate metal resistance ($R_g$), the etchedback BCB with a low dielectric constant was used as the supporting layer of a wide gate head, which also offered extremely low Rg of 1.7 Ohm for a total gate width ($W_g$) of 2x100m. The fabricated 30nm $In_{0.7}GaAs$ HEMTs showed $V_{th}$of -0.4V, $G_{m,max}$ of 1.7S/mm, and $f_T$ of 421GHz. These results indicate that InGaAs nano-HEMT with excellent device performance could be successfully fabricated through a reproducible and damage-free sidewall process without the aid of state-of-the-art lithography equipment. We also believe that the developed process will be directly applicable to the fabrication of deep sub-50nm InGaAs HEMTs if the initial line length can be reduced to below 50nm order.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.113-113
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• 2008

Cu CMP (Chemical Mechanical Planarization) has been used to remove copper film and obtain a planar surface which is essential for the semiconductor devices. Generally, it is known that chemical reaction is a dominant factor in Cu CMP comparing to Silicon dioxide CMP. Therefore, Cu CMP slurry has been regarded as an important factor in the entire process. This investigation focused on understanding the effect of corrosion inhibitor on copper surface and CMP results. Benzotriazole (BTA) was used as a corrosion inhibitor in this experiment. For the surface analysis, electrochemical characteristics of Cu was measured by a potentiostat and surface modification was investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). As a result, corrosion potential (Ecorr) increased and nitrogen concentration ratio on the copper surface also increased with BTA concentration. These results indicate that BTA prevents Cu surface from corrosion and forms Cu-BTA layer on Cu surface. CMP results are also well matched with these results. Material removal rate (MRR) decreased with BTA concentration and static etch rate also showed same trend. Consequently, adjustment of BTA concentration can give us control of step height variation and furthermore, this can be applicable for Cu pattern CMP.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.253-257
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• 2017

Graphene is a monolayer carbon material which consists of $sp^2$ bonding between carbon atoms. Its excellent intrinsic properties allow graphene to be used in various research fields. Many researchers believe that graphene is suitable for electronic device materials due to its high electrical conductivity and carrier mobility. Through chemical doping, n- or p-type graphene can be obtained, and consequently graphene-based devices which have more comparable structure to common semiconductor-based devices can be fabricated. In our research, we introduced the dielectrophoresis process to the chemical doping step in order to improve the effect of chemical doping of graphene selectively. Under 10 kHz and $5V_{pp}$ (peak-to-peak voltage), doping was conducted and the Au nanoparticles were effectively formed, as well as aligned along the edges of graphene. Effects of the selective chemical doping on graphene were investigated through Raman spectroscopy and the change of its electrical properties were explored. We proposed the method to enhance the doping effect in local region of a graphene layer.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.695-699
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• 2001

Cerium dioxide (CeO$_2$) was used as the intermediate layer between the ferroelectric thin film and Si substrate in a metal-ferroelectric-semiconductor field effect transistor (MFSFET), to improve the interface property by preventing the interdiffusion of the ferroelectric material and the Si substrate. In this study, CeO$_2$ thin films were etched with a CF$_4$/Ar gas combination in inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The maximum etch rate of CeO$_2$ thin films was 270$\AA$/min under CF$_4$/(CF$_4$+Ar) of 0.2, 600 W/-200V, 15 mTorr, and $25^{\circ}C$. The selectivities of CeO$_2$ to PR and SBT were 0.21, 0.25, respectively. The surface reaction in the etching of CeO$_2$ thin films was investigated with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). There is a chemical reaction between Ce and F. Compounds such as Ce-F$_{x}$ remains on the surface of CeO$_2$ thin films. Those products can be removed by Ar ion bombardment. The results of secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) were consistent with those of XPS. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to examine etched profiles of CeO$_2$ thin films. The etch profile of over-etched CeO$_2$ films with the 0.5${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ line was approximately 65$^{\circ}$.>.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.19-24
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• 2014

We report the nitrogen monoxide (NO) gas sensing properties of p-type CuO-nanorod-based gas sensors. We synthesized the p-type CuO nanorods with breadth of about 30 nm and length of about 330 nm by a hydrothermal method using an as-deposited CuO seed layer prepared on a $Si/SiO_2$ substrate by the sputtering method. We fabricated polycrystalline CuO nanorod arrays at $80^{\circ}C$ under the hydrothermal condition of 1:1 morality ratio between copper nitrate trihydrate [$Cu(NO_2)_2{\cdot}3H_2O$] and hexamethylenetetramine ($C_6H_{12}N_4$). Structural characterizations revealed that we prepared the pure CuO nanorod array of a monoclinic crystalline structure without any obvious formation of secondary phase. It was found from the gas sensing measurements that the p-type CuO nanorod gas sensors exhibited a maximum sensitivity to NO gas in dry air at an operating temperature as low as $200^{\circ}C$. We also found that these CuO nanorod gas sensors showed reversible and reliable electrical response to NO gas at a range of operating temperatures. These results would indicate some potential applications of the p-type semiconductor CuO nanorods as promising sensing materials for gas sensors, including various types of p-n junction gas sensors.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.99-104
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• 1991

Trantalum thin films have been prepared by DC sputtering onto As, P, and $BF_2$-implanted ($5{\times}10^15cm^-2$) poly-silicon. The heat treatments by rapid thermal annealing(RTA) have been applied to these samples for the formation of silicides. We have studied the application possibility of Ta-silicide as gate electrode and bit line. The silicide formation and the dopant diffusion after the heat treatment were investigated by various methods, such as four-point probe, X-ray, SEM cross sectional views, ${\alpha}$-step, and SIMS, The tantalum disilicide($TaSi_2$) are formed in the temperature above $800^{\circ}C$, and grown in colummar structure. $TaSi_2$ has a good surface roughness, having range from $80{\AA}\;to\;120{\AA}$, and implanted dopants are incoporated into the $TaSi_2$ layer during the RTA temperature.