• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• 제13권6호
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• pp.287-291
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• 2012

We investigated the etching characteristics of TaN thin films in an $O_2/BCl_3/Cl_2/Ar$ gas using a high density plasma (HDP) system. A maximum etch rate of the TaN thin films and the selectivity of TaN to $SiO_2$ were obtained as 172.7 nm/min and 6.27 in the $O_2/BCl_3/Cl_2/Ar$ (3:2:18:10 sccm) gas mixture, respectively. 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. The chemical states on the surface of the etched TaN thin films were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Auger electron spectroscopy was used for elemental analysis on the surface of the etched TaN thin films. These surface analyses confirm that the surface of the etched TaN thin film is formed with the nonvolatile by-product.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제16권9호
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• pp.790-794
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• 2003

This paper describes the fabrication and characteristics of ceramic thin film type pressure sensors based on Ta-N strain gauges for high temperature applications. Ta-N thin-film strain gauges are deposited onto a thermally oxidized Si diaphragm by RF sputtering in an argon-nitrogen atmos[here($N_2$ gas ratio: 8%, annealing condition: 90$0^{\circ}C$, 1 hr.), patterned on a wheatstone bridge configuration, and used as pressure sensing elements with a high stability and a high gauge factor. The sensitivity is 1.097 ～ 1.21 mV/Vㆍkgf/$\textrm{cm}^2$ in the temperature range of 25 ～ 200 $^{\circ}C$ and the maximum non-linearity resistance), non-linearity than existing Si piezoresistive pressure sensors. The fabricated ceramic thin-film type pressure sensor is expected to be usefully applied as pressure and load sensors that os operable under high-temperature.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
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• 제26권5호
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• pp.335-340
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• 2013

In this study, the plasma etching of the TaN thin film with $CH_4/BCl_3/Ar$ gas chemistries was investigated. The etch rate of the TaN thin film and the etch selectivity of TaN to $SiO_2$ was studied as a function of the process parameters, including the amount of $CH_4$. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) was used to investigate the chemical states of the surface of the TaN thin film.

• 한국자기학회지
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.226-230
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• 2005

본 연구에서는 스핀밸브 구조에서 하지층으로 많이 사용되고 있는 Ta 층에 질소를 첨가하여 질소량에 따른 자기적 특성과 열처리 결과를 비교 검토하였다. 또한 하지층에 질소를 첨가하여 확산 방지막으로서 역할과 기판과 하지층과의 접착력을 측정하여 비교하였다. 사용된 스핀밸브는 Si($SiO_2$)/Ta(TaN)/NiFe/CoFe/Cu/CoFe/FeMn/Ta 구조이다. Ta 박막에 비해 TaN 박막의 질소량이 증가할수록 증착률은 감소하였고, 비저항과 표면 거칠기는 증가하였다. 고온에서 열처리 후 측정한 XRD 결과를 보면 Si/Ta 박막에서는 규소화합물이 생성된 반면 Si/TaN 박막에서는 규소화합물을 발견할 수 없었다. 자기저항비(MR)와 교환결합자장($H_{ex}$)은 질소량이 4.0 sccm 이상에서는 감소하였다. 열처리 결과 자기저항비는 하지층이 Ta인 시편과 질소량이 4.0 sccm까지 혼합된 TaN 시편은 $200^{\circ}C$까지는 약 $0.5\%$ 정도 증가하다가 감소하였다. 기판과 하지층과의 접착력을 측정한 결과 Ta 박막보다 질소량이 8.0 sccm인 TaN 박막인 경우 약 2배 강한 접착력을 보였다. 본 연구 결과에 의하면 하지층 증착 시 아르곤 가스에 3.0 sccm 정도의 질소 가스를 혼합하여 사용하면 자기적 특성에 크게 영향을 주지 않으면서 확산 방지막, 접착력 향상등의 이점을 얻을 수 있으리라 사료된다.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2009년도 하계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.104-104
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• 2009

Critical dimensions has rapidly shrunk to increase the degree of integration and to reduce the power consumption. However, it is accompanied with several problems like direct tunneling through the gate insulator layer and the low conductivity characteristic of poly-silicon. To cover these faults, the study of new materials is urgently needed. Recently, high dielectric materials like $Al_2O_3$, $ZrO_2$ and $HfO_2$ are being studied for equivalent oxide thickness (EOT). However, poly-silicon gate is not compatible with high-k materials for gate-insulator. To integrate high-k gate dielectric materials in nano-scale devices, metal gate electrodes are expected to be used in the future. Currently, metal gate electrode materials like TiN, TaN, and WN are being widely studied for next-generation nano-scale devices. The TaN gate electrode for metal/high-k gate stack is compatible with high-k materials. According to this trend, the study about dry etching technology of the TaN film is needed. In this study, we investigated the etch mechanism of the TaN thin film in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system with $O_2/BCl_3/Ar$ gas chemistry. The etch rates and selectivities of TaN thin films were investigated in terms of the gas mixing ratio, the RF power, the DC-bias voltage, and the process pressure. The characteristics of the plasma were estimated using optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The surface reactions after etching were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and auger electron spectroscopy (AES).

• 한국표면공학회지
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• 제38권2호
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• pp.65-68
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• 2005

The effect of crystal orientation and microstructure on the mechanical properties of $TaN_x$ was investigated. $TaN_x$ films were grown on $SiO_2$ substrates by ultrahigh vacuum unbalanced magnetron sputter deposition in mixed $Ar/N_2$ discharges at 20 mTorr (2.67 Pa) and at $350^{\circ}C$. Unlike the Ti-N system, in which TiN is the terminal phase, a large number of N-rich phases in the Ta-N system could lead to layers which had nano-sized lamella structure of coherent cubic and hexagonal phases, with a correct choice of nitrogen fraction in the sputtering mixture and ion irradiation energy during growth. The preferred orientations and the micro-structure of $TaN_x$ layers were controlled by varing incident ion energy $E_i\;(=30eV\~50eV)$ and nitrogen fractions $f_{N2}\;(=0.1\~0.15)$. $TaN_x$ layers were grown on (0002)-Ti underlayer as a crystallographic template in order to relieve the stress on the films. The structure of the $TaN_x$ film transformed from Bl-NaCl $\delta-TaN_x$ to lamellar structured Bl-NaCl $\delta-TaN_x$ + hexagonal $\varepsilon-TaN_x$ or Bl-NaCl $\delta-TaN_x$ + hexagonal $\gamma-TaN_x$ with increasing the ion energy at the same nitrogen fraction $f_{N2}$. The hardness of the films also increased by the structural change. At the nitrogen fraction of $0.1\~0.125$, the structure of the $TaN_x$ films was changed from $\delta-TaN_x\;+\;\varepsilon-TaN_x\;to\;\delta-TaN_x\;+\;\gamma-TaN_x$ with increasing the ion energy. However, at the nitrogen fraction of 0.15 the film structure did not change from $\delta-TaN_x\;+\;\varepsilon-TaN_x$ over the whole range of the applied ion energy. The hardness increased significantly from 21.1 GPa to 45.5 GPa with increasing the ion energy.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국전기전자재료학회 2001년도 추계학술대회 논문집 Vol.14 No.1
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• pp.97-100
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• 2001

This paper presents the characteristics of Ta-N thin-film strain gauges as high-temperature strain gauges, which were deposited on Si substrate by DC reactive magnetron sputtering in an argon-nitrogen atmosphere(Ar-(4~16%)$N_2$). These films were annealed for 1 hour in $2{\times}10^{-6}$ Torr vaccum furnace range $500\sim1000^{\circ}C$. The optimized conditions of Ta-N thin-film strain gauges were annealing condition($900^{\circ}C$, 1 hr.) in 8% $N_2$ gas flow ratio deposition atmosphere. Under optimum conditions, the Ta-N thin-films for strain gauges is obtained a high resistivity, $\rho=768.93$ ${\mu}{\Omega}cm$, a low temperature coefficient of resistance, TCR=-84 ppm/$^{\circ}C$ and a high temporal stability with a good longitudinal gauge factor, GF=4.12.

• 한국재료학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국재료학회 2001년도 추계 학술발표강연 및 논문개요집
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• pp.63-63
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• 2001

• 한국세라믹학회지
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• 제29권1호
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• pp.29-34
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• 1992

Phase transition, dielectric properties, and leakage current characteristics of Ta2O5 thin film fabricated by sol-gel process with tantalum penta-n-butoxide were studied as a function of annealing temperature in O2 atmoshpere. Although Ta2O5 thin film annealed at temperatures below 700$^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr was amorphous, it was crystallized to ${\beta}$-Ta2O5 of orthorhombic phase by annealing at temperatures higher than 750$^{\circ}C$. With increasing annealing temperature from 500$^{\circ}C$ to 900$^{\circ}C$, dielectric constant of sol-gel processed Ta2O5 thin film was changed from 17.6 to 15.3 due to the increase of SiO2 thickness at Ta2O5/Si interface. For Ta2O5 thin film annealed at 500$^{\circ}C$ to 800$^{\circ}C$ for 1 hr in O2 atmosphere, leakage current was remarkably reduced and breakdown strength was increased with higher annealing temperature. For Ta2O5 film annealed at 800$^{\circ}C$, breakdown did not occur even at electric field strength of 30${\times}$105V/cm and leakage current was maintained lower than 10-8A/$\textrm{cm}^2$.

• 센서학회지
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• 제12권5호
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• pp.199-204
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• 2003

본 논문에서는 Ta-N 스트레인게이지를 이용한 극한 환경용 세라믹 박막형 압력센서의 제작 및 특성에 관하여 연구하였다. 압력감지부로 Ta-N 스트레인게이지를 사용하였으며, SDB(Si-wafer Direct Bonding)와 전기화학적 식각정지법을 이용하여 매몰 cavity를 가지는 저가격 고수율의 Si 박막 다이어프램을 제작하였다. 또한, 실리콘 박막 다이어프램상에 박막형 스트레인게이지를 형성하여 세라믹 박막형 압력센서를 제작하였다. 제작된 세라믹 박막형 압력 센서는 기존의 스트레인 게이지를 이용한 로드셀에 비해서 온도특성이 우수하고 재현성, 소형화, 집적화 및 저가격화가 가능하기 때문에 고온, 고압 등의 각한 환경에서도 사용이 가능할 것으로 기대된다.