• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.77-77
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• 2011

These days, a growing demand for memory device is filled up with the flash memory and the dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Although DRAM is a reasonable solution for current demand, the universal novel memory with high density, high speed and nonvolatility, needs to be developed. Among various new memories, the magnetic random access memory (MRAM) device is considered as one of good candidate memories because of excellent features including high density, high speed, low operating power and nonvolatility. The etching of MTJ stack which is composed of magnetic materials and insulator such as MgO is one of the vital process for MRAM. Recently, MgO has attracted great interest in the MTJ stack as tunneling barrier layer for its high tunneling magnetoresistance values. For the successful realization of high density MRAM, the etching process of MgO thin films should be investigated. Until now, there were some works devoted to the investigations on etch characteristics of MgO thin films. Initially, ion milling was applied to the etching of MgO thin films. However, ion milling has many disadvantages such as sidewall redeposition and etching damage. High density plasma etching containing the magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching and high density reactive ion etching have been employed for the improvement of etching process. In this work, inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICPRIE) system was adopted for the improvement of etching process using MgO thin films and etching gas mixes of $CH_4$/Ar and $CH_4$/$O_2$/Ar have been employed. The etch rates are measured by a surface profilometer and etch profiles are observed using field emission scanning emission microscopy (FESEM). The effects of gas concentration and etch parameters such as coil rf power, dc-bias voltage to substrate, and gas pressure on etch characteristics will be systematically explored.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11b
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• pp.21-25
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• 2001

In this study, recovery of plasma etching· damage in PZT thin film with additive gas and re-annealing after etching have been investigated. The PZT thin films were etched as a function of $Cl_2/CF_4$ with addition of Ar and $O_2$ with inductively induced plasma. The etch rates of PZT thin films were 1450 $\AA$/min at 30% additive Ar into $(Cl_2(80%)+CF_4 (20%))$ and 1100 $\AA$/min at 10% additive $O_2$ into $C(Cl_2(80%)+CF_4(20%))$. In order to recovery properties of PZT thin films after etching, the etched PZT thin films were re-annealed at various temperatures in at $O_2$ atmosphere. From the hysteresis curves, ferroelectrical properties are improved by $O_2$ re-annealing process. The improvement of ferroelectric behavior at annealed sample is consistent with the increase of the (100) and (200) PZT peaks revealed by x-ray diffraction (XRD). From x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, intensity of Pb-O, Zr-O and Ti-O peak are increased and the chemical residue peak is reduced by $O_2$ re-annealing. The ferroelectric behavior consistent with the dielectric nature of $Ti_xO_y$ is recovered by $O_2$ recombination during rapid thermal annealing process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.21-25
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• 2001

In this study, recovery of plasma etching damage in PZT thin film with additive gas and re-annealing after etching have been investigated. The PZT thin films were etched as a function of Cl$_2$/CF$_4$ with addition of Ar and $O_2$ with inductively induced plasma. The etch rates of PZT thin films were 1450$\AA$/min at 30% additive Ar into (Cl$_2$(80%)+CF$_4$ (20%)) and 1100$\AA$/min at 10% additive $O_2$ into C(Cl$_2$(80%)+CF$_4$ (20%)). In order to recovery properties of PZT thin films after etching, the etched PZT thin films were re-annealed at various temperatures in at $O_2$ atmosphere. From the hysteresis curves, ferroelectrical properties are improved by $O_2$ re-annealing process. The improvement of ferroelectric behavior at annealed sample is consistent with the increase of the (100) and (200) PZT peaks revealed by x-ray diffraction (XRD). From x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, intensity of Pb-O, Zr-O and Ti-O peak are increased and the chemical residue peak is reduced by $O_2$ re-annealing. The ferroelectric behavior consistent with the dielectric nature of Ti$_{x}$O$_{y}$ is recovered by $O_2$ recombination during rapid thermal annealing process.s.s.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.55-60
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• 2010

Purpose: We investigated the changes of plastic lens after etching of coating films by comparing uncoated lens. Methods: CR-39, middle index and high index lenses of 0 (zero) diopter were etched at $80^{\circ}C$ and room temperature using a coating remover, and then changes of refractive power, transmittance and surface morphology were investigated. Results: There were no differences in refractive power and transmittance between uncoated and etched lenses. The etching rate was similar in both CR-39 and middle index lens, but in the case of high index lens, it was slower and less steady than the others. From the SEM observation of lens surface, etching damage was found out on the surface of etched lens. It was shown the least damage in middle index lens but the most damage in high index lens. Conclusions: If the etching of coating films is demanded on condition that the surface of ophthalmic lenses are not damaged, a using of most adequate coating remover based on lens material should be considered, and a caution for proper etching conditions is required.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.120-126
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• 2004

A damage-reduced trench was investigated in view of the defect distribution along trench sidewall and bottom using high resolution transmission electron microscopy, which was formed by HBr plasma and additive gases in magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching system. Adding $O_2$ and other additive gases into HBr plasma makes it possible to eliminate sidewall undercut and lower surface roughness by forming the passivation layer of lateral etching. To reduce the RIE induced damage and obtain the fine shape trench corner rounding, we investigated the hydrogen annealing effect after trench formation. Silicon atomic migration on trench surfaces using high temperature hydrogen annealing was observed with atomic scale view. Migrated atoms on crystal surfaces formed specific crystal planes such as (111), (113) low index planes, instead of fully rounded comers to reduce the overall surface energy. We could observe the buildup of migrated atoms against the oxide mask, which originated from the surface migration of silicon atoms. Using this hydrogen annealing, more uniform thermal oxide could be grown on trench surfaces, suitable for the improvement of oxide breakdown.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.157-161
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• 1999

We investigated the effect of mechanical back side damage in Czochralski silicon wafer. The intensity of mechanical damage was evaluated by minority carrier recombination lifetime by laser excitation/microwave reflection photoconductance decay ($\mu$-PCD) technique, wet oxidation/preferential etching methods, near surface micro defect (NSMD) analysis, and X-ray section topography. The data indicate that the higher the mechanical damage intensity, the lower the minority carrier lifetime, and NSMD density increased proportionally, also correlated to the oxidation induced stacking fault (OISF) density. Thus, NSMD technique can be used separately from conventional etching method in OISF measurement.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.245-249
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• 2004

Transparent materials such as fused silica are important materials in optical and optoelectronics field because of its outstanding properties, such as transparency in a wide wavelength range, strong damage resistance for laser irradiation, and high thermal and chemical stability. However, these properties make it difficult to micromachine silica in micro-sized quantities. In this study, we fabricated a micro patterns on the surface of fused silica plate using laser induced wet etching. KrF excimer laser was used as a light source. There were no burrs and micro cracks on the etched surface of fused silica and the flatness of the etched surface was fairly good. We investigated the influence of etchant upon the etch rate and quality in laser induced wet etching. Pyrene-acetone, toluene, and pyrene-toluene solution were used as etchant. In the side of etch rate, toluene and pyrene-toluene solution were better than pyrene-acetone solution.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1996.07c
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• pp.1980-1981
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• 1996

Laser direct dry etching is a new technique in semiconductor processing which has a lot of advantage, including decrease of etching-induced damage, maskless, photoresistiess, and high selectivity. This study presents characteristics of a laser direct dry etching for $Al_{0.3}Ga_{0.7}As/GaAs$ multi-layer structures for the first time. In this study, we were able to obtain the unusual aching profiles. The cross sectional analysis of etched groove was peformed for reaction characteristics and their applications.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.105-108
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• 2017

The reactive ion etching (RIE) technology which enables nano-texturatization of surface is applied on monocrystalline silicon solar cell. The additional RIE process on alkalized textured surface further improves the blue response and short circuit current. Such parameter is characterized by surface reflectance and quantum efficiency measurement. By varying the RIE process time and matching the subsequent processes, the absolute efficiency gain of 0.13% is achieved. However, the result indicates potential efficiency gain could be higher due to process integration. The critical etch process time is discussed which minimizes both front surface reflectance and etching damage, considering the challenges of required system throughput in industry.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.11-16
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• 2002

In this study, the dry etching characteristics of $SrBi_2Ta_2O_9$ (SBT) thin films were investigated by using ICP-RIE (inductively coupled plasma-reactive ion etching). The etching damage and degradation were analyzed with XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) and C-V (Capacitance-Voltage) measurement. The etching rate increased with increasing the ICP power and the capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) power. The etch rate of 900$\AA$/min was obtained with 700 W of ICP power and 200 W of CCP power. The main problem of dry etching is the degradation of the ferroelectric material. The damage-free etching characteristics were obtained with the $Ar/C1_2/CHF_3$ gas mixture of 20/14/2 when the ICP power and CCP power were biased at 700 W and 200 W, respectively. The experimental results show that the dry etching process with ICP-RIE is applicable to the fabrication of the single transistor type ferroelectric memory device.