• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.105-105
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• 2009

$ZrO_2$ is one of the most attractive high dielectric constant (high-k) materials. As integrated circuit device dimensions continue to be scaled down, high-k materials have been studied more to resolve the problems for replacing the EY31conventional $SiO_2$. $ZrO_2$ has many favorable properties as a high dielectric constant (k= 20~25), wide band gap (5~7 eV) as well as a close thermal expansion coefficient with Si that results in good thermal stability of the $ZrO_2/Si$ structure. In order to get fine-line patterns, plasma etching has been studied more in the fabrication of ultra large-scale integrated circuits. The relation between the etch characteristics of high-k dielectric materials and plasma properties is required to be studied more to match standard processing procedure with low damaged removal process. Due to the easy control of ion energy and flux, low ownership and simple structure of the inductively coupled plasma (ICP), we chose it for high-density plasma in our study. And the $BCl_3$ included in the gas due to the effective extraction of oxygen in the form of $BCl_xO_y$ compound In this study, the surface kinetic properties of $ZrO_2$ thin film was investigated in function of Ch addition to $BCl_3/Ar$ gas mixture ratio, RF power and DC-bias power based on substrate temperature. The figure 1 showed the etch rate of $ZrO_2$ thin film as function of gas mixing ratio of $Cl_2/BCl_3/Ar$ dependent on temperature. The chemical state of film was investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The characteristics of the plasma were estimated using optical emission spectroscopy (OES). Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) was used for elemental analysis of etched surface.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.785-791
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• 2001

High dielectric (Ba, Sr) TiO$_3$ thin films were etched in an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) as a function of Cl$_2$/Ar mixing ration. Under Cl$_2$(20)/Ar(80), the maximum etch rate of the BST films was 400 $\AA$/mim and selectivities of BST to Pt and PR were obtained 0.4 and 0.2, respectively. Etching products were redeposited on the surface of BST and resulted in varying the nature of crystallinity. Therefore, we investigated the etched surface of BST by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) atomic force microscopy (AFM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). From the result of XPS analysis, we found that residues of Ba-Cl and Ti-Cl bonds remained on the surface of the etched BST for high boiling point. The morphology of the etched surfact was analyzed by AFM. A smoothsurface(roughness ~2.8nm) ws observed under Cl$_2$(20)/Ar(80), rf power of 600 W, dc bias voltage of -250 V and pressure of 10 mTorr. This changed the nature of the crystallinity of BST. From the result of XRD analysis, the crystallinities of the etched BST film under Ar only and Cl$_2$(20)/Ar(80) were maintained as similar to as-deposited BST. However, intensity of BST(100) orientation under Cl$_2$ only plasma was abruptly decreased. This indicated that CI compounds were redeposited on the etched BST surface and resulted in changed of the crystallinity of BST during the etch process.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.990-997
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• 1998

In this work, the $SiO_2$ films on the silicon substrate with different orientations were first prepared by the low temperature process using the ECR plasma diffusion as a function of microwave power and oxidation time. Before and after thermal treatment, the surface morphology, Si/O ratio from physicochemical properties, and the electrical properties of the oxide films were also investigated. The oxidation rate increased with microwave power, while surface morphology showed the nonuniform due to etching. The film quality, therefore, was lowered with increasing the defect by etching and the content of positive oxide ions in the oxide films from bulk by higher self-DC bias. The content of positive oxide ions in the oxide films with different Si orientations showed Si(100) < Si(111) < poly Si. The defects in $Si/SiO_2$ interface of $SiO_2$ film could be decreased by annealing, while $Q_{it}$ and $Q_f$ were independent of thermal treatment and the dependent on concentration of reactive oxide ions and self-DC bias of substrate. At microwave power of 300, and 400 W, the high quality $SiO_2$ film that had lower surface roughness and defect in $Si/SiO_2$ interface was obtained. The value of interface trap density, then, was ${\sim}9{\times}10^{10}cm^{-2}eV^{-1}$.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.16-22
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• 2008

We studied plasma etching of polycarbonate in $O_2/SF_6$, $O_2/N_2$ and $O_2/CH_4$. A capacitively coupled plasma system was employed for the research. For patterning, we used a photolithography method with UV exposure after coating a photoresist on the polycarbonate. Main variables in the experiment were the mixing ratio of $O_2$ and other gases, and RF chuck power. Especially, we used only a mechanical pump for in order to operate the system. The chamber pressure was fixed at 100 mTorr. All of surface profilometry, atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used for characterization of the etched polycarbonate samples. According to the results, $O_2/SF_6$ plasmas gave the higher etch rate of the polycarbonate than pure $O_2$ and $SF_6$ plasmas. For example, with maintaining 100W RF chuck power and 100 mTorr chamber pressure, 20 sccm $O_2$ plasma provided about $0.4{\mu}m$/min of polycarbonate etch rate and 20 sccm $SF_6$ produced only $0.2{\mu}m$/min. However, the mixed plasma of 60 % $O_2$ and 40 % $SF_6$ gas flow rate generated about $0.56{\mu}m$ with even low -DC bias induced compared to that of $O_2$. More addition of $SF_6$ to the mixture reduced etch of polycarbonate. The surface roughness of etched polycarbonate was roughed about 3 times worse measured by atomic force microscopy. However examination with scanning electron microscopy indicated that the surface was comparable to that of photoresist. Increase of RF chuck power raised -DC bias on the chuck and etch rate of polycarbonate almost linearly. The etch selectivity of polycarbonate to photoresist was about 1:1. The meaning of these results was that the simple capacitively coupled plasma system can be used to make a microstructure on polymer with $O_2/SF_6$ plasmas. This result can be applied to plasma processing of other polymers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.213-216
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• 2001

Etching behaviors of ferroelectric YMn $O_3$ thin films were studied by an inductively coupled plasma (ICP). Etch characteristic on ferroelectric YMn $O_3$ thin film have been investigated in terms of etch rate, selectivity and etch profile. The maximum etch rate of YMn $O_3$ thin film is 300 $\AA$/min at Ar/C $l_2$ of 2/8, RF power of 800W, dc bias voltage of 200V, chamber pressure of 15mTorr and substrate temperature of 3$0^{\circ}C$. Addition of C $F_4$ gas decrease the etch rate of YMn $O_3$ thin film. From the results of XPS analysis, Y $F_{X}$ compunds were found on the surface of YMn $O_3$ thin film which is etched in Ar/C1/C $F_4$ plasma. The etch profile of YMn $O_3$ film is improved by addition of C $F_4$ gas into the Ar/C $l_2$ plasma. These results suggest that fluoride yttrium acts as a sidewall passivants which reduce the sticking coefficient of chlorine on YMn $O_3$.>.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.169-169
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• 2008

To keep pace with scaling trends of CMOS technologies, high-k metal oxides are to be introduced. Due to their high permittivity, high-k materials can achieve the required capacitance with stacks of higher physical thickness to reduce the leakage current through the scaled gate oxide, which make it become much more promising materials to instead of $SiO_2$. As further studying on high-k, an understanding of the relation between the etch characteristics of high-k dielectric materials and plasma properties is required for the low damaged removal process to match standard processing procedure. There are some reports on the dry etching of different high-k materials in ICP and ECR plasma with various plasma parameters, such as different gas combinations ($Cl_2$, $Cl_2/BCl_3$, $Cl_2$/Ar, $SF_6$/Ar, and $CH_4/H_2$/Ar etc). Understanding of the complex behavior of particles at surfaces requires detailed knowledge of both macroscopic and microscopic processes that take place; also certain processes depend critically on temperature and gas pressure. The choice of $BCl_3$ as the chemically active gas results from the fact that it is widely used for the etching o the materials covered by the native oxides due to the effective extraction of oxygen in the form of $BCl_xO_y$ compounds. In this study, the surface reactions and the etch rate of $Al_2O_3$ films in $BCl_3/Cl_2$/Ar plasma were investigated in an inductively coupled plasma(ICP) reactor in terms of the gas mixing ratio, RF power, DC bias and chamber pressure. The variations of relative volume densities for the particles were measured with optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The surface imagination was measured by AFM and SEM. The chemical states of film was investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), which confirmed the existence of nonvolatile etch byproducts.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.109-112
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• 2006

A fluorine-doped diamond-like carbon (F-DLC) stamp which has high contact angle, high UV-transmittance and sufficient hardness, was fabricated using the following direct etching method: F-DLC is deposited on a quartz substrate using DC and RF magnetron sputtering, PMMA is spin coated and patterned using e-beam lithography and finally, $O_2$ plasma etching is performed to transfer the line patterns having 100 nm line width, 100 nm line space and 70 nm line depth on F-DLC. The optimum fluorine concentration was determined after performing several pre-experiments. The stamp was applied successfully to UV-NIL without being coated with an anti-adhesion layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.145-146
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• 2006

A fluorine-doped diamond-like carbon (F-DLC) stamp which has high contact angle, high UV-transmittance and sufficient hardness, was fabricated using the following direct etching method: F-DLC is deposited on a quartz substrate using DC and RF magnetron sputtering, PMMA is spin coated and patterned using e-beam lithography and finally, O2 plasma etching is performed to transfer the line patterns having 100 nm line width, 100 nm line space and 70 nm line depth on F-DLC. The optimum fluorine concentration was determined after performing several pre-experiments. The stamp was applied successfully to UV-NIL without being coated with an anti-adhesion layer.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.327-335
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• 1993

Using a RF cylindrical magnetron operated with two electromagnets having a Helmholz configuration, RF magnetron plasma properties and characteristics of reactive ion ething of Si were investigated as a function of applied magnetic field strengths using 3mTorr $CF_4/H_2$ and $CHF_3$. Also, I-V characteristics of Schottky diodes, which were made of silicons etched under different applied magnetic field strengths and gas environments, were measured to investigate the degree of radiation damage during the reactive ion etching. As the magnetic field strent;th increased, ion densities and radical densities of the plasmas were increased linearly, however, the dc self-bias voltages induced on the powered electrode, where the specimen are located, were decreased exponentially. Maximum etch rates, which were 5 times faster than that etched without applied magnetic filed, were obtained using near lOOGauss, and, under these conditions, little or no radiation damages on the etched silicons were found.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.93-98
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• 2001

YMnO$_3$ films are excellent gate dielectric materials of ferroelectric random access memories (FRAMs) with MFSFET (metal -ferroelectric-semiconductor field effect transistor) structure because YMnO$_3$ films can be deposited directly on Si substrate and have a relatively low permittivity. Although the patterning of YMnO$_3$ thin films is the requisite for the fabrication of FRAMs, the etch mechanism of YMnO$_3$ thin films has not been reported. In this study, YMnO$_3$thin films were etched with Cl$_2$/Ar gas chemistries in inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The maximum etch rate of YMnO$_3$ film is 285$\AA$/min under Cl$_2$/(Cl$_2$+Ar) of 1.0, RF power of 600 W, dc-bias voltage of -200V, chamber pressure of 15 mTorr and substrate temperature of $25^{\circ}C$. The selectivities of YMnO$_3$ over CeO$_2$ and $Y_2$O$_3$ are 2.85, 1.72, respectively. The selectivities of YMnO$_3$ over PR and Pt are quite low. Chemical reaction in surface of the etched YMnO$_3$ thin films was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) surface of the selected YMnO$_3$ thin films was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The etch profile was also investigated by scaning electron microscopy(SEM)