• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.276-280
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• 2010

Copper(Cu) as an interconnecting metal layer can replace aluminum (Al) in IC fabrication since Cu has low electrical resistivity, showing high immunity to electromigration compared to Al. However, it is very difficult for copper to be patterned by the dry etching processes. The chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process has been introduced and widely used as the mainstream patterning technique for Cu in the fabrication of deep submicron integrated circuits in light of its capability to reduce surface roughness. But this process leaves a large amount of residues on the wafer surface, which must be removed by the post-CMP cleaning processes. Copper corrosion is one of the critical issues for the copper metallization process. Thus, in order to understand the copper corrosion problems in post-CMP cleaning solutions and study the effects of DC biases and post-CMP cleaning solution concentrations on the Cu film, a constant voltage was supplied at various concentrations, and then the output currents were measured and recorded with time. Most of the cases, the current was steadily decreased (i.e. resistance was increased by the oxidation). In the lowest concentration case only, the current was steadily increased with the scarce fluctuations. The higher the constant supplied DC voltage values, the higher the initial output current and the saturated current values. However the time to be taken for it to be saturated was almost the same for all the DC supplied voltage values. It was indicated that the oxide formation was not dependent on the supplied voltage values and 1 V was more than enough to form the oxide. With applied voltages lower than 3 V combined with any concentration, the perforation through the oxide film rarely took place due to the insufficient driving force (voltage) and the copper oxidation ceased. However, with the voltage higher than 3 V, the copper ions were started to diffuse out through the oxide film and thus made pores to be formed on the oxide surface, causing the current to increase and a part of the exposed copper film inside the pores gets back to be oxidized and the rest of it was remained without any further oxidation, causing the current back to decrease a little bit. With increasing the applied DC bias value, the shorter time to be taken for copper ions to be diffused out through the copper oxide film. From the discussions above, it could be concluded that the oxide film was formed and grown by the copper ion diffusion first and then the reaction with any oxidant in the post-CMP cleaning solution.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.223-223
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• 2012

Surface engineering plays a significant role in fabricating highly functionalized materials applicable to industrial and biomedical fields. Surface wrinkles and folds formed by ion beam or plasma treatment are buckling-induced patterns and controlled formation of those patterns has recently gained considerable attention as a way of creating well-defined surface topographies for a wide range of applications. Surface wrinkles and folds can be observed when a stiff thin layer attached to a compliant substrate undergoes compression and plasma treatment is one of the techniques that can form stiff thin layers on compliant polymeric substrates, such as poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). Here, we report two effective methods using plasma modification techniques for controlling the formation of surface wrinkles and folds on flat or patterned PDMS substrates. First, we show a method of creating wrinkled diamond-like carbon (DLC) film on grooved PDMS substrates. Grooved PDMS substrates fabricated by a molding method using a grooved master prepared by photolithography and a dry etching process were treated with argon plasma and subsequently coated with DLC film, which resulted in the formation of wrinkled DLC film aligning perpendicular to the steps of the pre-patterned ridges. The wavelength and the amplitude of the wrinkled DLC film exhibited variation in the submicron- to micron-scale range according to the duration of argon plasma pre-treatment. Second, we present a method for controlled formation of folds on flat PDMS substrates treated with oxygen plasma under large compressive strains. Flat PDMS substrates were strained uniaxially and then treated with oxygen plasma, resulting in the formation of surface wrinkles at smaller strain levels, which evolved into surface folds at larger strain levels. Our results demonstrate that we can control the formation and evolution of surface folds simply by controlling the pre-strain applied to the substrates and/or the duration of oxygen plasma treatment.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.16-21
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• 2016

Silicon/Carbon/CNT composites as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries were synthesized to overcome the large volume change during lithium alloying-de alloying process and low electrical conductivity. Silicon/Carbon/CNT composites were prepared by the fabrication processes including the synthesis of SBA-15, magnesiothermic reduction of SBA-15 to obtain Si/MgO by ball milling, carbonization of phenolic resin with CNT and HCl etching. The prepared Silicon/Carbon/CNT composites were analysed by XRD, SEM, BET and EDS. In this study, the electrochemical effect of CNT content to improve the capacity and cycle performance was investigated by charge/discharge, cycle, cyclic voltammetry and impedance tests. The coin cell using Silicon/Carbon/CNT composite (Si:CNT=93:7 in weight) in the electrolyte of $LiPF_6$ dissolved in organic solvents (EC:DMC:EMC=1:1:1 vol%) has better capacity (1718 mAh/g) than those of other composition coin cells. The cycle performance of coin cell was improved as CNT content was increased. It is found that the coin cell (Si:CNT=89:11 in weight) has best capacity retension (83%) after 2nd cycle.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.539-545
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• 2014

Contact resistivity between silver electrodes and the emitter layer of a silicon solar cell wafer has been measured using either the circular transmission line method or the linear transmission line method. The circular transmission line method has an advantage over the linear transmission line method, in that it does not require an additional process for mesa etching to eliminate the leakage current. In contrast, the linear transmission line method has the advantage that its specimen can be acquired directly from a silicon solar cell. In this study, measured resistance data for the calculation of contact resistivity is compared for these two methods, and the mechanism by which the linear transmission line method can more realistically reflect the impact of the width and thickness of a silver electrode on contact resistivity is investigated.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.270-276
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• 2010

Nickel-copper foam electrodes with pore gradient micro framework and nano-ramified wall have been prepared by using an electrochemical deposition process. Growth habit of nickel-copper co-deposits was quite different from that of pure nickel deposit. In particular, the ramified structure of the individual particles was getting clear with chloride ion content in the electrolyte. The ratio of nickel to copper in the deposits decreased with the distance away from the substrate and the more chloride ions in the electrolyte led to the more nickel content throughout the deposits. Compositional analysis for the cross section of a ramified branch, together with tactical selective copper etching, proved that the copper content increased with approaching central region of the cross section. Such a composition gradient actually disappeared after heat treatment. It is anticipated that the pore gradient nickel-copper nanostructured foams presented in this work might be a promising option for the high-performance electrode in functional electrochemical devices.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.163-167
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• 2020

Ring-shaped SiC (Silicon carbide) polycrystals used as an inner material in semiconductor etching equipment was manufactured using the PVT (Physical Vapor Transport) method. A graphite cylinder structure was placed inside the graphite crucible to grow a ring-shaped SiC polycrystal by the PVT method. The crystal polytype of grown crystal were analyzed using a Raman and an UVF (Ultra Violet Fluorescence) analysis. And the microstructure and components of SiC crystal were identified by a SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) and EDS (Energy Disruptive Spectroscopy) analyses. The grain size and growth rate of SiC polycrystals fabricated by this method was varied with temperature variation in the initial stage of growth process.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.84-93
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• 2001

An electromagnetic micro x-y stage for probe-based data storage (PDS) has been fabricated. The x-y stage consists of a silicon body inside which planar copper coils are embedded, a glass substrate bonded to the silicon body, and eight permanent magnets. The dimensions of flexures and copper coils were determined to yield $100{\;}\mu\textrm{m}$ in x and y directions under 50 mA of supplied current and to have 440 Hz of natural frequency. For the application to PDS devices, electromagnetic stage should have flat top surface for the prevention of its interference with multi-probe array, and have coils with low resistance for low power consumption. In order to satisfy these design criteria, conducting planar copper coils have been electroplated within silicon trenches which have high aspect ratio ($5{\;}\mu\textrm{m}$in width and $30{\;}\mu\textrm{m}$in depth). Silicon flexures with a height of $250{\;}\mu\textrm{m}$ were fabricated by using inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE). The characteristics of a fabricated electromagnetic stage were measured by using laser doppler vibrometer (LDV) and dynamic signal analyzer (DSA). The DC gain was $0.16{\;}\mu\textrm{m}/mA$ and the maximum displacement was $42{\;}\mu\textrm{m}$ at a current of 180 mA. The measured natural frequency of the lowest mode was 325 Hz. Compared with the designed values, the lower natural frequency and DC gain of the fabricated device are due to the reverse-tapered ICP-RIE process and the incomplete assembly of the upper-sided permanent magnets for LDV measurements.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.301-307
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• 2015

The diameter of a proton beam emanating from the MC-50 cyclotron is about 2-3 mm with Gaussian distribution. This widely irradiated proton beam is not suitable for semiconductor etching, precise positioning, and micromachining, which require a small spot. In this study, a beam cutting method using a microhole is proposed as an economical alternative. We produced a microhole with aspect ratio, average diameter, and thickness of 428, $21{\mu}m$, and 9 mm, respectively, for cutting the proton beam. By using this high-aspect-ratio microhole, we conducted machinability tests on microstructures with sizes of tens of ${\mu}m$. Additionally, the results of simulation using GEANT4 and those of the actual experiment were compared and analyzed. The outcome confirmed the possibility of implementing a micro process technology for the fabrication of three-dimensional microstructures of 20 micron units using the MC-50 cyclotron with the microhole.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.39 no.12
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• pp.1297-1303
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• 2015

The internal chromium plating of a long-axis tube is widely used in military and industrial application, with the thick hard plating formed using a mixed solution of Chromium acid and catalytic $H_2SO_4$. A large-caliber gun can endure a high explosive force as a result of the increased stiffness and wear resistance provided by this internal hard chromium surface. The internal chromium layer of a tube is prone to exfoliation caused by the high kinetic energy of the projectile and high pressure of the explosion. Therefore, we reviewed the plating process. Chromium plating comprises many steps, including the removal of Grease, water cleaning, electrolytic abrasion, etching, plating, water cleaning, and hydrogen brittleness removal. The exfoliated chromium plating layer is affected by the adhesion property of the plating. In particular, the Fe concentration of the electrolyte affects the adhesion property. The optimum Fe concentration for effectively suppressing the exfoliation of the plating layer was established by using a scanning electron microscope to determine the surface roughness, and the effectiveness was proved in an adhesion test, etc.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.8679-8683
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• 2015

Using a surface modification technique, ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) of Ti thin film it becomes possible to prepare an active ceramic surface to braze $Al_2O_3$-STS304 with conventional Ag-Cu eutectic composition filler metal. Researches on bonding formations at interfaces of ceramic joints were mainly related on the development of filler metals to ceramic, the process parameters, and clarifications of reaction products. From the results, the reactive brazing is a very convenient technique compared to the conventional Mn-Mo method. However melting point of reactive filler is still higher than that of Ag-Cu eutectic and it forms the brittle inter metallic compound. Recently several new approaches are introduced to overcome the main shortcomings of the reactive metal brazing in ceramic-metal, metal vapor vacuum arc ion source was introduced to implant the reactive element directly into the ceramics surface, and sputter deposition with sputter etching for the deposition of active material.