• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.6-9
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• 2012

In this study, we carried out an investigation of the etching characteristics (etch rate, selectivity to $SiO_2$) of ZnO thin films in $N_2/Cl_2$/Ar inductivity coupled plasma. A maximum etch rate and selectivity of 108.8 nm/min and, 3.21, respectively, was obtained for ZnO thin film at a $N_2/Cl_2$/Ar gas mixing ratio of 15:16:4 sccm. The plasmas were characterized by optical emission spectroscopy. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed the efficient destruction of oxide bonds by ion bombardment. An accumulation of low volatile reaction products on the etched surface was also shown. Based on this data, an ion-assisted chemical reaction is proposed as the main etch mechanism for plasmas containing $Cl_2$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.25.1-28
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• 2000

In this study, $Y_2O_3$ thin films were etched with inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The etch rate of $Y_2O_3$ , and the selectivity of $Y_2O_3$ to YMnO$_3$were investigated by varying $Cl_2$/($Cl_2$+Ar) gas mixing ratio. The maximum etch rate of $Y_2O_3$ , and the selectivity of $Y_2O_3$ to YMnO$_3$ were 302/min, and 2.4 at $Cl_2$/($Cl_2$+Ar) gas mixing ratio of 0.2 repetitively. In x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, $Y_2O_3$ thin film was dominantly etched by Ar ion bombardment, and was assisted by chemical reaction of Cl radical. These results were confirmed by secondary ion mass spectroscopy(SIMS) analysis. YCl, and $YC_3$ existed at 126.03 a.m.u, and 192.3 a.m.u, respectively.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.106-109
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• 2011

We investigated the etching characteristics of titanium nitride (TiN) thin film in $BCl_3$/Ar inductively coupled plasma. The etching parameters were the gas mixing ratio, radio frequency (RF) power, direct current (DC)-bias voltages and process pressures. The standard conditions were as follows: total flow rate = 20 sccm, RF power = 500 W, DC-bias voltage = -100 V, substrate temperature = $40^{\circ}C$, and process pressure = 15 mTorr. The maximum etch rate of TiN thin film and the selectivity of TiN to $Al_2O_3$ thin film were 54 nm/min and 0.79. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed no accumulation of etch byproducts from the etched surface of TiN thin film. The TiN film etch was dominated by the chemical etching with assistance by Ar sputtering in reactive ion etching mechanism, based on the experimental results.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.63-67
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• 2006

The characteristics of the wet-etching of ZnO thin films were investigated using hydrochloric and phosphoric acid solutions as etchants. The etch rate of ZnO films, using highly diluted hydrochloric acid solutions at a concentration of 0.25% in deionized water, was determined to be about 120 nm/min, and linearly increased with increasing the acid concentration, resulting in $1.17{\mu}m/min$ when a 2% HCl solution was used. The surface of ZnO etched by an HCl solution, observed by scanning electron microscopy, showed a rough morphology with a high density of hexagonal pyramids or cones with sidewall angles of about ${\sim}45^{\circ}C$. Moreover, the sidewall angles of the masked area were similar to those of the pyramids on the surface. In comparison, the surface of ZnO etched by a phosphoric acid had a smooth surface morphology. The origin of this difference is from the very initial stage of etching, indicating that the etch-mechanism is different for each solution. Furthermore, when $H_3PO_4$ was added to the HCl aqueous solution, the morphology of the etched surface was greatly enhanced and the sidewall angle was also increased to about $65^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.276-279
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• 2011

This work, the etching characteristics of $Ba_2Ti_9O_{20}$(BTO) thin films were investigated using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) of $Ar/Cl_2$ gas mixture. The etch rate of BTO thin films as well as the $BTO/SiO_2$ and BTO/PR etch selectivity were measured as functions of $Ar/Cl_2$ mixing ratio (0~100% Ar) at a constants gas pressure (6 mTorr), total gas flow rate (50 sccm), input power (700 W) and bias power (200 W). The etch rate of BTO thin films decreased with increasing Ar fraction. To analyze the etching mechanism an optical emission spectroscopy (OES), double Langmuir probe(DLP) and surface analysis using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were carried out.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.25-28
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• 2000

In this study, $Y_2$O$_3$ thin films were etched with inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The etch rate of $Y_2$O$_3$, and the selectivity of $Y_2$O$_3$ to YMnO$_3$ were investigated by varying Cl$_2$/(Cl$_2$+Ar) gas mixing ratio. The maximum etch rate of $Y_2$O$_3$, and the selectivity Of $Y_2$O$_3$ to YMnO$_3$ were 302/min, and 2.4 at Cl$_2$/(Cl$_2$+Ar) gas mixing ratio of 0.2 repectively. In x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, $Y_2$O$_3$ thin film was dominantly etched by Ar ion bombardment, and was assisted by chemical reaction of Cl radical. These results were confirmed by secondary ion mass spectroscopy(SIMS) analysis. YCI, and YCl$_3$ existed at 126.03 a.m.u, and 192.3 a.m.u, respectively

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.363-363
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• 2008

The development of dry etching process for sapphire wafer with plasma has been key issues for the opto-electric devices. The challenges are increasing control and obtaining low plasma induced-damage because an unwanted scattering of radiation is caused by the spatial disorder of pattern and variation of surface roughness. The plasma-induced damages during plasma etching process can be classified as impurity contamination of residual etch products or bonding disruption in lattice due to charged particle bombardment. Therefor, fine pattern technology with low damaged etching process and high etch rate are urgently needed. Until now, there are a lot of reports on the etching of sapphire wafer with using $Cl_2$/Ar, $BCl_3$/Ar, HBr/Ar and so on [1]. However, the etch behavior of sapphire wafer have investigated with variation of only one parameter while other parameters are fixed. In this study, we investigated the effect of pressure and other parameters on the etch rate and the selectivity. We selected $BCl_3$ as an etch ant because $BCl_3$ plasmas are widely used in etching process of oxide materials. In plasma, the $BCl_3$ molecule can be dissociated into B radical, $B^+$ ion, Cl radical and $Cl^+$ ion. However, the $BCl_3$ molecule can be dissociated into B radical or $B^+$ ion easier than Cl radical or $Cl^+$ ion. First, we evaluated the etch behaviors of sapphire wafer in $BCl_3$/additive gases (Ar, $N_2,Cl_2$) gases. The behavior of etch rate of sapphire substrate was monitored as a function of additive gas ratio to $BCl_3$ based plasma, total flow rate, r.f. power, d.c. bias under different pressures of 5 mTorr, 10 mTorr, 20 mTorr and 30 mTorr. The etch rates of sapphire wafer, $SiO_2$ and PR were measured with using alpha step surface profiler. In order to understand the changes of radicals, volume density of Cl, B radical and BCl molecule were investigated with optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The chemical states of $Al_2O_3$ thin films were studied with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and depth profile anlysis of auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The enhancement of sapphire substrate can be explained by the reactive ion etching mechanism with the competition of the formation of volatile $AlCl_3$, $Al_2Cl_6$ or $BOCl_3$ and the sputter effect by energetic ions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.135-136
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• 2009

The etching characteristics of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and etch selectivity of ZnO to $SiO_2$ in $BCl_3/Ar/Cl_2$ plasma were investigated. It was found that ZnO etch rate shows a non-monotonic behavior with increasing both Ar fraction in $BCl_3$ plasma, RF power, and gas pressure. The maximum ZnO etch rate of 53 nm/min was obtained for $BCl_3$(16 sccm)/Ar(4 sccm)/$Cl_2$(3 sccm) gas mixture. The chemical state of etched surfaces was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). From these data, the suggestions on the ZnO etch mechanism were made.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.390-390
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• 2012

Information technology industries has grown rapidly and demanded alternative memories for the next generation. The most popular random access memory, dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), has many advantages as a memory, but it could not meet the demands from the current of developed industries. One of highlighted alternative memories is magnetic random-access memory (MRAM). It has many advantages like low power consumption, huge storage, high operating speed, and non-volatile properties. MRAM consists of magnetic-tunnel-junction (MTJ) stack which is a key part of it and has various magnetic thin films like CoFeB, FePt, IrMn, and so on. Each magnetic thin film is difficult to be etched without any damages and react with chemical species in plasma. For improving the etching process, a high density plasma etching process was employed. Moreover, the previous etching gases were highly corrosive and dangerous. Therefore, the safety etching gases are needed to be developed. In this research, the etch characteristics of CoFeB magnetic thin films were studied by using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching in $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mixes. TiN thin films were used as a hardmask on CoFeB thin films. The concentrations of $O_2$ in $CH_4/O_2/Ar$ gas mix were varied, and then, the rf coil power, gas pressure, and dc-bias voltage. The etch rates and the selectivity were obtained by a surface profiler and the etch profiles were observed by a field emission scanning electron microscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was employed to reveal the etch mechanism.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.128-128
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• 2006