• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.935-938
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• 1997

Recently, the minimum line width shows a tendency to decrease and the multi-level increase in semiconductor. Therefore, a planarization technique is needed and chemical mechanical polishing(CMP) is considered as one of the most suitable process. CMP accomplishes a high polishing performance and a global planarization of high quality. But there are several defects in CMP such as micro-scratches, abrasive contaminations, and non-uniformity of polished wafer edges. Wet etching include of Spin-etching can improve he defects of CMP. It uses abrasive-free chemical solution instead of slurry. On this study, ILD(INterlayer-Dielectric) was removed by CMP and wet-etching methods in order to investigate the superiority of wet etching mechanism. In the thin film wafer, the results were evaluated at a viewpoint of material removal rate(MRR) and within wafer non-uniformity(WIWNU). And pattern step height was also compared for planarization characteristics of the patterned wafer.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.108-108
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• 2003

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

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.21-25
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• 2001

This paper presents the effect of pyrazine on tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH):isopropyl alcohol (IPA) single-crystal silicon anisotropic etching properties. With the addition of IPA to TMAH solutions, etching characteristics are exhibited an improvement in flatness on the etching front and a reduction in undercutting, but the etch rate on (100) silicon is decreased. The (100) silicon etch rate is improved by the addition of pyrazine. An etch rate on (100) silicon of 0.8 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$/min, which is faster by 13% than a 20 wt.% solution of pure TMAH, is obtained using 20 wt.% TMAH: 0.5 g/100 ml pyrazine solutions, but the etch rate on (100) silicon is decreased when more pyrazine is added. With the addition of pyrazine to a 25 wt.% TMAH solution, variations in flatness on the etching front are not observed and the undercutting ratio is reduced by 30~50%. These results indicate that anisotropic etching technology using TMAH:IPA:pyrazine solutions provides a powerful and versatile method for realizing of microelectromechanical systems.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.98-103
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• 2016

The dry etching characteristics of SnO thin films were investigated using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) in Ar, $CF_4$, $Cl_2$ chemistries. the SnO thin films were deposited by reactive rf magnetron sputtering with Sn metal target. In order to study the etching rates of SnO, the processing factors of processing pressure, source power, bias power, and etching gas were controlled. The etching behavior of SnO films under various conditions was obtained and discussed by comparing to that of $SiO_2$ films. In our results, the etch rate of SnO film was obtained as 94nm/min. The etch rates were mainly affected by physical etching and the contribution of chemical etching to SnO films appeared relatively week.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.217-222
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• 2008

Characteristics of etching and induced surface morphology variation by wet-etching of n-face n-type GaN were investigated using KOH solutions. It was observed that hexagonal pyramids were formed on the etched surface regardless of etching conditions. However, the size of the hexagonal pyramids was changed as the etching time and temperature increased, respectively. Initially, as the etching time and concentration of KOH solution increased, the hexagonal pyramid was observed to be dissociated into smaller pyramids. However, as the etching time increased further, the size of the hexagonal pyramids increased again, indicating that the etching of N-face n-type GaN by KOH solutions proceeded through the evolution of hexagonal pyramids, such as formation, dissociation and enlargement of pyramids. Furthermore, it was also observed that there is a correlation between the photoluminescence intensity of the etched surface and the value of root-mean-square roughness. The intensity of PL increased as the roughness value increased due to the enhancement of the extraction efficiency of the generated photons.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.387-387
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• 2013

Currently, the flash memory and the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) have been used in a variety of applications. However, the downsizing of devices and the increasing density of recording medias are now in progress. So there are many demands for development of new semiconductor memory for next generation. Magnetic random access memory (MRAM) is one of the prospective semiconductor memories with excellent features including non-volatility, fast access time, unlimited read/write endurance, low operating voltage, and high storage density. MRAM is composed of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) stack and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS). The MTJ stack consists of various magnetic materials, metals, and a tunneling barrier layer. Recently, MgO thin films have attracted a great attention as the prominent candidates for a tunneling barrier layer in the MTJ stack instead of the conventional Al2O3 films, because it has low Gibbs energy, low dielectric constant and high tunneling magnetoresistance value. For the successful etching of high density MRAM, the etching characteristics of MgO thin films as a tunneling barrier layer should be developed. In this study, the etch characteristics of MgO thin films have been investigated in various gas mixes using an inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICPRIE). The Cl2/Ar, CH3OH/Ar, and CH4/Ar gas mix were employed to find an optimized etching gas for MgO thin film etching. TiN thin films were employed as a hard mask to increase the etch selectivity. The etch rates were obtained using surface profilometer and etch profiles were observed by using the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM).

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2009

Surface of PEEK(poly-ether-ether-ketone) was modified by chemical etching, plasma treatment and mechanical grinding to improve the plating adhesion. The plating characteristics of these samples were studied by the contact angle, plating thickness, gloss and adhesion. Chemical etching and plasma treatment increased wettability, adhesion and gloss. The contact angle of as-received PEEK was $61^{\circ}$. The contact angles of chemical etched, plasma treated or both were improved to the range of $15{\sim}33^{\circ}$. In the case of electroless plating, the thickest layer without blister was $1.6{\mu}m$. The adhesion strengths by chemical etching, plasma treatment or both chemical etching and plasma treatment were $75kgf/cm^2$, $102kgf/cm^2$, $113kgf/cm^2$, respectively, comparing to the $24kgf/cm^2$ of as-received. In the case of mechanically ground PEEKs, the adhesion strengths were higher than those unground, with the sacrifice of surface gloss. The gloss of untreated PEEK were greater than mechanically ground PEEKs. Plating thickness increased linearly with the plating times.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.07a
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• pp.279-282
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• 2001

The IBE(ion beam etching)-induced Schottky barrier variation which depends on various etching history related with ion energy, incident angle and etching time has been investigated using voltage-current, capacitance-voltage characteristics of metal-etched silicon contact and morphology of etched surface were studied using AFM(atomic force microscope). For ion beam etched n-type silicons, Schottky barrier is reduced according to ion beam energy. It can be seen that amount of donor-like positive charge created in the damaged layer is proportional to the ion energy. By contrary, for ion beam etched p-type silicons, the Schottky barrier and specific contact resistance are both increased. Not only etching time but also incident angle of ion beam has an effect on barrier height. Taping-mode AFM analysis shows increased roughness RMS(Root-Mean-Square) and depth distribution due to ion bombardment. Annealing in an N$_2$ ambient for 30 min was found to be effective in improving the diode characteristics of the etched samples and minimum annealing temperatures to recover IBE-induced barrier variation were related to ion beam energy.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.483-488
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• 2006

Etching process of PMMA (Polymethyl Methacrylate) on glass surface was investigated by dry etching technique using remote plasma. To determine the etching characteristics, the remote plasma etching was conducted for various process parameters such as plasma power, reaction gas and distance from plasma generation. As the distance from the plasma generation was increased, the etch rate of PMMA was linearly decreased by radical density in plasma. PMMA has removed by reactive radicals in the plasma. The etch rate increased with plasma power because of more reactive radicals. The etch rate and surface roughness of PMMA increased with $O_2$ concentration in the etchant.