• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.449-455
• /
• 1997

The anisotropic etching behavior of single crystal silicon were studied in aqueous KOH solution. N-type (100) oriented single crystal silicon wafers were used for the study, and the $SiO_2$ layer, whose etching rate is known to be much slower than that of silicon in the KOH solution, was used as a mask for the silicon etching. The silicon etching rate and the etching properties are shown to be a function of etchant temperature uniformity, circulation speed, and circulation direction of the etchant as well as the etchant concentration and the temperature. The etching rate is increased as the temperature is increased from $10\mu \textrm{m}/hr$ to $250\mu \textrm{m}/hr$ in the range of $50^{\circ}C~105^{\circ}C$. Hillock density and height is observed to be correlated with the etchant concentration and the etch temperature. The variation of the hillock density was explained by the ratio between the etching rate of (100) orientation and that of (111) orientation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2005.06a
• /
• pp.1522-1526
• /
• 2005

In this study, the fabrication of large area silicon mirror is accomplished by anisotropic etching using MEMS for implementation of integrated optical pickup and the process condition is also established for improving the mirror surface roughness. Until now, few results have been reported about the production of highly stepped $9.74^{\circ}$ off-axis-cut silicon wafer using wet etching. In addition rough surface of the mirror is achieved in case of long etching time. Hence a novel method called magnetorheolocal finishing is introduced to enhancing the surface quality of the mirror plane. Finally, areal peak to valley surface roughness of mirror plane is reduced about 100nm in large area of $mm^2$ and it is applicable to optical pickup using infrared wavelength.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2007.11a
• /
• pp.257-258
• /
• 2007

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
• /
• v.26 no.11
• /
• pp.1686-1690
• /
• 1989

Using the anisotropic etching characteristics of N2H4-H2O solutions, Si diaphragm was fabricated for the integrated sensors. The optimal composition and temperature of the etching solution in (100) Si etching process was established to be 50mol% N2H4 in H2O at 105\ulcorner\ulcorner for both higher etch rate (=2.6\ulcorner/min) and better surface quality of etched (100) planes. Based on the above optimal etching condition, the electrochemical etch-stop technique was employed to form n-type Si diaphragm having a thickness of 20\ulcorner and the thickness of diapragm could exactly be controlled to 20\ulcorner\ulcorner.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 1999.07a
• /
• pp.79-79
• /
• 1999

The varous techniques for fabrication of si or metal tip as a field emission electron source have been reported due to great potential capabilities of flat panel display application. In this report, 240nm thermal oxide was initially grown at the p-type (100) (5-25 ohm-cm) 4 inch Si wafer and 310nm Si3N4 thin layer was deposited using low pressure chemical vapor deposition technique(LPCVD). The 2 micron size dot array was photolithographically patterned. The KOH anisotropic etching of the silicon substrate was utilized to provide V-groove formation. After formation of the V-groove shape, dry oxidation at 100$0^{\circ}C$ for 600 minutes was followed. In this procedure, the orientation dependent oxide growth was performed to have a etch-mask for dry etching. The thicknesses of the grown oxides on the (111) surface and on the (100) etch stop surface were found to be ~330nm and ~90nm, respectively. The reactive ion etching by 100 watt, 9 mtorr, 40 sccm Cl2 feed gas using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system was performed in order to etch ~90nm SiO layer on the bottom of the etch stop and to etch the Si layer on the bottom. The 300 watt RF power was connected to the substrate in order to supply ~(-500)eV. The negative ion energy would enhance the directional anisotropic etching of the Cl2 RIE. After etching, remaining thickness of the oxide on the (111) was measured to be ~130nm by scanning electron microscopy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2008.11a
• /
• pp.418-418
• /
• 2008

The electrochemical etching of silicon in HF-based solutions is known to form various types of porous structures. Porous structures are generally classified into three categories according to pore sizes: micropore (below 2 nm in size), mesopore (2 ~ 50 nm), and macropore (above 50 nm). Recently, the formation of macropores has attracted increasing interest because of their promising characteristics for an wide scope of applications such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), chemical sensors, biotechnology, photonic crystals, and photovoltaic application. One of the promising applications of macropores is in the field of MEMS. Anisotropic etching is essential step for fabrication of MEMS. Conventional wet etching has advantages such as low processing cost and high throughput, but it is unsuitable to fabricate high-aspect-ratio structures with vertical sidewalls due to its inherent etching characteristics along certain crystal orientations. Reactive ion dry etching is another technique of anisotropic etching. This has excellent ability to fabricate high-aspect-ratio structures with vertical sidewalls and high accuracy. However, its high processing cost is one of the bottlenecks for widely successful commercialization of MEMS. In contrast, by using electrochemical etching method together with pre-patterning by lithographic step, regular macropore arrays with very high-aspect-ratio up to 250 can be obtained. The formed macropores have very smooth surface and side, unlike deep reactive ion etching where surfaces are damaged and wavy. Especially, to make vertical microwire or nanowire arrays (aspect ratio = over 1:100) on silicon wafer with top-down photolithography, it is very difficult to fabricate them with conventional dry etching. The electrochemical etching is the most proper candidate to do it. The pillar structures are demonstrated for n-type silicon and the formation mechanism is well explained, while such a experimental results are few for p-type silicon. In this report, In order to understand the roles played by the kinds of etching solution and mask patterns in the formation of microwire arrays, we have undertaken a systematic study of the solvent effects in mixtures of HF, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), iso-propanol, and mixtures of HF with water on the structure formation on monocrystalline p-type silicon with a resistivity with 10 ~ 20 $\Omega{\cdot}cm$. The different morphological results are presented according to mask patterns and etching solutions.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.271-275
• /
• 2008

The MAM(Megasonic Agitated Module) has been fabricated for improving the characteristics of wet etching. The characteristics of the MAM are investigated during the wet etching with and without megasonic agitation in this paper. The adoption of the MAM has improved the characteristics of wet etching, such as the etch rate, etch uniformity, and surface roughness. Especially, the etching uniformity on the entire wafer was less than ${\pm}1%$ in both cases of Si and glass. Generally, the initial root-mean-square roughness($R_{rms}$) of the single crystal silicon was 0.23nm. Roughnesses of 566nm and 66nm have been achieved with magnetic stirring and ultrasonic agitation, respectively, by some researchers. In this paper, the roughness of the etched Si surface is less than 60 nm. Wet etching of silicon with megasonic agitation can maintain nearly the original surface roughness during etching. The results verified that megasonic agitation is an effective way to improve etching characteristics of the etch rate, etch uniformity, and surface roughness and that the developed micromachining system is suitable for the fabrication of devices with complex structures.

• Electrical & Electronic Materials
• /
• v.8 no.1
• /
• pp.90-94
• /
• 1995

Reactive Ion Etching(RIE) of Si$_{3}$N$_{4}$ in a CF$_{4}$/O$_{2}$ gas plasma exhibits such good anisotropic etching properties that it is widely employed in current VLSI technology. However, the RIE process can cause serious damage to the silicon surface under the Si$_{3}$N$_{4}$ layer. When an atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposited(APCVD) SiO$_{2}$ layer is used as a etch-stop material for Si$_{3}$N$_{4}$, it seems inevitable to get a good etch selectivity of Si$_{3}$N$_{4}$ with respect to SiO$_{2}$. Therefore, we have undertaken thorough study of the dependence of the etch rate of Si$_{3}$N$_{4}$ plasmas on $O_{2}$ dilution, RF power, and chamber pressure. The etch selectivity of Si$_{3}$N$_{4}$ with respect to SiO$_{2}$ has been obtained its value of 2.13 at the RF power of 150 W and the pressure of 110 mTorr in CF$_{4}$ gas plasma diluted with 25% $O_{2}$ by flow rate.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 1997.10a
• /
• pp.101-101
• /
• 1997

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.99-101
• /
• 2000

The fabrication of the submicron size hole has been interesting due to the potential application of the near field optical sensor or liquid metal ion source. The 2 micron size dot array was photolithographically patterned. After formation of the V-groove shape by anisotropic KOH etching, dry oxidation at $1000^{\circ}C$ for 600 minutes was followed. In this procedure, the orientation dependent oxide growth was performed to have an etch-mask for dry etching. The reactive ion etching by the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system was performed in order to etch ~90 nm $SiO_2$ layer at the bottom of the V-groove and to etch the Si at the bottom. The negative ion energy would enhance the anisotropic etching by the $Cl_2$ gas. After etching, the remaining thickness of the oxide on the Si(111) surface was measured to be ~130 nm by scanning electron microscopy. The etched Si aperture can be used for NSOM sensor.