• Tribology and Lubricants
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.47-53
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• 2024

Surface topography plays a decisive role in determining the performance of several precision components. In particular, the surface roughness of semiconductor devices affects the precision of the circuit. In this regard, the surface topography of a given surface needs to be appropriately assessed. Typically, the average roughness is used as one of the main indicators of surface finish quality because it is influenced by both dynamic and static parameters. Owing to the increasing demand for such accurate and reliable surface measurement systems, studies are continuously being conducted to understand the parameters of surface roughness and measure the average roughness with high reliability. However, the differences in the measurement methods of surface roughness are not clearly understood. Hence, in this study, the surface roughness of the back of a silicon wafer was measured using both contact and noncontact methods. Subsequently, a comparative analysis was conducted according to various surface roughness parameters to identify the differences in surface roughness depending on the measurement method. When using a 3D laser confocal microscope, even smaller surface asperities can be measured compared with the use of a 3D profiler. The results are expected to improve the understanding of the surface roughness characteristics of precision components and be used as a useful guideline for selecting the measurement method for surface topography assessment.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.35-45
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• 2023

In this study, the sludge formation in the wastewater drain from the advanced packaging process mechanisms are revealed as well as the key factors, materials, and sludge prevention methods using surfactant. Compared with that of conventional packaging process, advanced packaging process employ similar process to the semiconductor fabrication process, and thus many processes may generate wastewater. In specific, a large amount of wastewater may generate during the carrier wafer bonding, photo, development, and carrier wafer debonding processes. In order to identify the key factors for the formation of sludge during the advanced packaging process, six types of chemicals including bonding glue, HMDS, photoresist (PR), PR developer, debonding cleaner, and water are utilized and mixing evaluation is assessed. As a result, it is confirmed that the black solid sludge is formed, which is originated by the sludge seed formation by hydrolysis/dehydration reaction of HMDS and sludge growth via hydrophobic-hydrophobic binding with sludge seed and PR. For the sludge prevention investigation, three surfactants of CTAB, PEG, and shampoo are mixed with the key materials of sludge, and it is confirmed that the sludge formations are successfully suppressed. The underlying mechanism behind the sludge formation is that the carbon tails of the surfactant bind to PR with hydrophobic-hydrophobic interaction and inhibit the reaction with HMDS-based slurry seeds to prevent the sludge formation. In this regard, it is expected that various problems like clogging in drains and pipes during the advanced packaging process may effectively solve by the injection of surfactants into the drains.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.406-406
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• 2016

To get high efficiency n-type crystalline silicon solar cells, passivation is one of the key factor. Tunnel oxide (SiO2) reduce surface recombination as a passivation layer and it does not constrict the majority carrier flow. In this work, the passivation quality enhanced by different chemical solution such as HNO3, H2SO4:H2O2 and DI-water to make thin tunnel oxide layer on n-type crystalline silicon wafer and changes of characteristics by subsequent annealing process and firing process after phosphorus doped amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) deposition. The tunneling of carrier through oxide layer is checked through I-V measurement when the voltage is from -1 V to 1 V and interface state density also be calculated about $1{\times}1012cm-2eV-1$ using MIS (Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor) structure . Tunnel oxide produced by 68 wt% HNO3 for 5 min on $100^{\circ}C$, H2SO4:H2O2 for 5 min on $100^{\circ}C$ and DI-water for 60 min on $95^{\circ}C$. The oxide layer is measured thickness about 1.4~2.2 nm by spectral ellipsometry (SE) and properties as passivation layer by QSSPC (Quasi-Steady-state Photo Conductance). Tunnel oxide layer is capped with phosphorus doped amorphous silicon on both sides and additional annealing process improve lifetime from $3.25{\mu}s$ to $397{\mu}s$ and implied Voc from 544 mV to 690 mV after P-doped a-Si deposition, respectively. It will be expected that amorphous silicon is changed to poly silicon phase. Furthermore, lifetime and implied Voc were recovered by forming gas annealing (FGA) after firing process from $192{\mu}s$ to $786{\mu}s$. It is shown that the tunnel oxide layer is thermally stable.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.603-608
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• 2018

Although the voltage-applied discharge method is most widely used in the semiconductor and display industries, periodic management costs are incurred because the method causes defects due to the absorption of ambient fine dust and causes emitter tip contamination due to the discharge. The emitter tip contamination problem is caused by the accumulation of fine particles in ambient air due to the corona discharge of the ionizer. Fuzzy ball generation accelerates the wear of the emitter tip and deteriorates the performance of the ionizer. Although a mechanical cleaning method using a manual brush or an automatic brush is effective for contaminant removal, it requires management of additional mechanical parts by the user. In some cases, contaminants accumulated in the emitter may be transferred to the wafer or product. In order to solve this problem, we developed an ionizer for a clean environment that can remove the pencil-type emitter tip and directly ionize the surrounding gas molecules using the tungsten wire located inside the ion tank. As a result of testing and certification by the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, the average concentration was $0.7572particles/ft^3$, the decay time was less than two seconds, and the ion valance was 7.6 V, which is satisfactory.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.13 no.3 s.40
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• pp.47-51
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• 2006

Recently, CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) is one of very important processing in semiconductor technology because of large integration and application of design role. CMP is a planarization process of wafer surface using the chemical and mechanical reactions. One of the most important components of the CMP system is the polishing pad. During the CMP process, the pad itself becomes smoother and glazing. Therefore it is necessary to have a pad conditioning process to refresh the pad surface, to remove slurry debris and to supply the fresh slurry on the surface. A conditioning disk is used during the pad conditioning. There are diamonds on the surface of diamond disk to remove slurry debris and to polish pad surface slightly, so density, shape and size of diamond are very important factors. In this study, we characterized diamond disk with 9 kinds of sample.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.116-120
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• 2006

We have investigated plasma spray coated $Al_2O_3$ layers on Al-60 series substrates for development of wafer electrostatic chuck in semiconductor dry etching system. Samples were prepared without/with cooling bar on backside of samples, at various distances, and with different powder feed rates. There were many cracks and pores in the $Al_2O_3$ layers coated on Al-60 series substrates without cooling bar on the backside of samples. But the cracks and pores were almost disappeared in the $Al_2O_3$ layers on Al-60 series substrates coated with cooling bar on the back side of samples, 15 g/min. powder feed rate and various 60, 70, 80 mm working distances. Then the surface morphology was not changed with various working distances of 60, 70, 80 mm. When the powder feed rate was changed from 15 g/min to 20 g/min, the crack did not appear, but few pores appeared. Also the $Al_2O_3$ layer was coated with many small splats compared with $Al_2O_3$ layer coated with 15 g/min powder feed rate. The deposited rate of $Al_2O_3$ layer was higher when the process was done without cooling bar on the back side of sample than that with cooling bar on the back side of sample.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.173-181
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• 1992

Tantalum pentoxide($Ta_{2}O_{5}$) thin films on p-type (100) silicon wafer were fabricated by RF reactive sputtering. Physical properties and structure of the specimens were examined by XRD and AES. From the C-V analysis, the dielectric constant of $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ films was in the range of 10-12 in the reactive gas atmosphere in which 10% of oxygen gas is mixed. The ratio of Ta : 0 was 1 : 2 and 1 : 2.49 by AES and RBS examination, respectively. The heat-treatment at $700^{\circ}C$ in $O_{2}$ ambient led to induce crystallization. When the heat-treatment temperature was $1000^{\circ}C$, the dielectric constant was 20.5 in $O_{2}$ ambient and 23 in $N_{2}$ ambient, respectively. The crystal structure of $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ film was pseudo hexagonal of ${\delta}-Ta_{2}O_{5}$. The flat band voltage shift(${\Delta}V_{FB}$) of the specimens and the leakage current density were decreased for higher oxygen mixing ratio. The maximum breakdown field was 2.4MV/cm at the oxygen mixing ratio of 10%. The $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ films will be applicable to hydrogen ion sensitive film and gate oxide material for memory device.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.134-134
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• 2011

High-k dielectric materials such as $HfO_2$, $ZrO_2$ and $Al_2O_3$ increase gate capacitance and reduce gate leakage current in MOSFET structures. This behavior suggests that high-k materials will be promise candidates to substitute as a tunnel barrier. Furthermore, stack structure of low-k and high-k tunnel barrier named variable oxide thickness (VARIOT) is more efficient.[1] In this study, we fabricated the $WSi_2$ nanocrystals nonvolatile memory device with $SiO_2/HfO_2/Al_2O_3$ tunnel layer. The $WSi_2$ nano-floating gate capacitors were fabricated on p-type Si (100) wafers. After wafer cleaning, the phosphorus in-situ doped poly-Si layer with a thickness of 100 nm was deposited on isolated active region to confine source and drain. Then, on the gate region defined by using reactive ion etching, the barrier engineered multi-stack tunnel layers of $SiO_2/HfO_2/Al_2O_3$ (2 nm/1 nm/3 nm) were deposited the gate region on Si substrate by using atomic layer deposition. To fabricate $WSi_2$ nanocrystals, the ultrathin $WSi_2$ film with a thickness of 3-4 nm was deposited on the multi-stack tunnel layer by using direct current magnetron sputtering system [2]. Subsequently, the first post annealing process was carried out at $900^{\circ}C$ for 1 min by using rapid thermal annealing system in nitrogen gas ambient. The 15-nm-thick $SiO_2$ control layer was deposited by using ultra-high vacuum magnetron sputtering. For $SiO_2$ layer density, the second post annealing process was carried out at $900^{\circ}C$ for 30 seconds by using rapid thermal annealing system in nitrogen gas ambient. The aluminum gate electrodes of 200-nm thickness were formed by thermal evaporation. The electrical properties of devices were measured by using a HP 4156A precision semiconductor parameter analyzer with HP 41501A pulse generator, an Agillent 81104A 80MHz pulse/pattern generator and an Agillent E5250A low leakage switch mainframe. We will discuss the electrical properties for application next generation non-volatile memory device.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.532-537
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• 1998

The purpose of this study was to investigate the behavior of ozone in DI water and the reaction with wafers during the semiconductor wet cleaning process. The solubility of ozone in DI water was not only dependent on the temperature but also directly proportional to the input concentration of ozone. The lower the initial ozone concentration and the temperature, the longer the half-life time of ozone. The reaction order of ozone in DI water was calculated to be around 1.5. The redox potential reached a saturation value in 5min and slightly increased as the input ozone concentrations increased. The completely hydrophilic surface was created in Imin when HF etched silicon wafer was cleaned in ozonized DI water containing higher ozone concentrations than 2ppm. Spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements showed that the chemical oxide formed by ozonized DI water was measured to be thicker than that by piranha solution. The wafers contaminated with a non-ionic surfactant were more effectively cleaned in ozonized DI water than in piranha and ozonized piranha solutions.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.263-272
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• 2011

Highly luminescent and monodisperse InP quantum dots (QDs) were prepared by a non-organometallic approach in a non-coordinating solvent. Fatty acids with well-defined chain lengths as the ligand, a non coordinating solvent, and a thorough degassing process are all important factors for the formation of high quality InP QDs. By varying the molar concentration of indium to ligand, QDs of different size were prepared and their absorption and emission behaviors studied. By spin-coating a colloidal solution of InP QD onto a silicon wafer, InP QD thin films were obtained. The thickness of the thin films cured at 60 and $200^{\circ}C$ were nearly identical (approximately 860 nm), whereas at $300^{\circ}C$, the thickness of the thin film was found to be 760 nm. Different contrast regions (A, B, C) were observed in the TEM images, which were found to be unreacted precursors, InP QDs, and indium-rich phases, respectively, through EDX analysis. The optical properties of the thin films were measured at three different curing temperatures (60, 200, $300^{\circ}C$), which showed a blue shift with an increase in temperature. It was proposed that this blue shift may be due to a decrease in the core diameter of the InP QD by oxidation, as confirmed by the XPS studies. Oxidation also passivates the QD surface by reducing the amount of P dangling bonds, thereby increasing luminescence intensity. The dielectric properties of the thin films were also investigated by capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurements in a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) device. At 60 and $300^{\circ}C$, negative flat band shifts (${\Delta}V_{fb}$) were observed, which were explained by the presence of P dangling bonds on the InP QD surface. At $300^{\circ}C$, clockwise hysteresis was observed due to trapping and detrapping of positive charges on the thin film, which was explained by proposing the existence of deep energy levels due to the indium-rich phases.