• 한국기계가공학회지
• /
• 제15권2호
• /
• pp.118-124
• /
• 2016

In this study, experiments are conducted to improve spray coating uniformity by using second and third electrodes based on the electrospray atomization mechanism. The uniformity of fabricated thin films can be improved by adjusting the design of the second electrode. The implementation of the second electrode with an elongated hole and a bending angle of $90^{\circ}$ results in highly uniform films. In addition, induced area to substrate is increased by lowering the applied voltage using the third electrode with a round rod shape. A linear correlation between applied voltage and induced area is confirmed. Thin film thickness and surface roughness are measured after the fabrication of thin films through the electrospray process. It is confirmed that a thin film is formed having an average thickness of 273.44 nm, a thickness uniformity of less than 10%, and a surface roughness of 3 nm.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국전기전자재료학회 2010년도 하계학술대회 논문집
• /
• pp.375-375
• /
• 2010

CdTe as an absorber material is widely used in thin film solar cells with the heterostructure due to its almost ideal band gap energy of 1.45 eV, high photovoltaic conversion efficiency, low cost and stable performance. The deposition methods and preparation conditions for the fabrication of CdTe are very important for the achievement of high solar cell conversion efficiency. There are some rearranged reports about the deposition methods available for the preparation of CdTe thin films such as close spaced sublimation (CSS), physical vapor deposition (PVD), vacuum evaporation, vapor transport deposition (VTD), closed space vapor transport, electrodeposition, screen printing, spray pyrolysis, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), and RF sputtering. The RF sputtering method for the preparation of CdTe thin films has important advantages in that the thin films can be prepared at low growth temperatures with large-area deposition suitable for mass-production. The authors reported that the optical and electrical properties of CdTe thin film were closely connected by the thickness-uniformity of the film in the previous study [1], which means that the better optical absorbance and the higher carrier concentration could be obtained in the better condition of thickness-uniformity for CdTe thin film. The thickness-uniformity could be controlled and improved by the some process parameters such as vacuum level and RF power in the sputtering process of CdTe thin films. However, there is a limitation to improve the thickness-uniformity only in the preparation process [1]. So it is necessary to introduce the external or additional method for improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film because the cell size of thin film solar cell will be enlarged. Therefore, the authors firstly applied the chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process to improving the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin films with a G&P POLI-450 CMP polisher [2]. CMP process is the most important process in semiconductor manufacturing processes in order to planarize the surface of the wafer even over 300 mm and to form the copper interconnects with damascene process. Some important CMP characteristics for CdTe were obtained including removal rate (RR), WIWNU%, RMS roughness, and peak-to-valley roughness [2]. With these important results, the CMP process for CdTe thin films was performed to improve the thickness-uniformity of the sputtering-deposited CdTe thin film which had the worst two thickness-uniformities of them. Some optical properties including optical transmittance and absorbance of the CdTe thin films were measured by using a UV-Visible spectrophotometer (Varian Techtron, Cary500scan) in the range of 400 - 800 nm. After CMP process, the thickness-uniformities became better than that of the best condition in the previous sputtering process of CdTe thin films. Consequently, the optical properties were directly affected by the thickness-uniformity of CdTe thin film. The absorbance of CdTe thin films was improved although the thickness of CdTe thin film was not changed.

• 한국진공학회지
• /
• 제17권2호
• /
• pp.165-169
• /
• 2008

반도체 소자공정에서 균일한 두께의 금속박막을 증착하는 것은 매우 중요하다. 기존의 기판고정식 sputtering 장비로 증착한 indium tin oxide(ITO)박막의 두께 균일도가 $\pm4%\sim\pm5%$ 정도로 중앙부분이 더 두껍다. 방전전극 구조물을 설계하고 제작하여 sputtering되는 물질의 방향을 조절하였다. 개량된 sputtering gun을 사용하여 기판고정식 sputtering 장비에서 4" wafer 내에서 $\pm0.8\sim1.3%$ 정도로 두께 균일도를 증가시켰다. wafer to wafer에서는 $\pm$5.3%에서 $\pm$1.5%로 두께 균일도가 향상되었다. Al박막의 경우 $\pm$1.0% 이내의 두께 균일도를 얻을 수 있었다.

• 전기학회논문지
• /
• 제58권6호
• /
• pp.1146-1150
• /
• 2009

Cadmium telluride (CdTe) is one of the most attractive photovoltaic materials due to its low cost, high efficiency and stable performance in physical, optical and electronic properties. Few researches on the influences of uniform surface on the photovoltaic characteristics in large-area CdTe solar cell were not reported. As the preceding study of the effects of thickness-uniformity on the photovoltaic characteristics for the large-area CdTe thin film solar cell, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process was investigated for an enhancement of thickness-uniformity. Removal rate of CdTe thin film was 3160 nm/min of the maximum value at the 200 $gf/cm^2$ of down force (pressure) and 60 rpm of table speed (velocity). The removal rate of CdTe thin film was more affected by the down force than the table speed which is the two main factors directly influencing on the removal rate in CMP process. RMS roughness and peak-to-valley roughness of CdTe thin film after CMP process were improved to 96.68% and 85.55%, respectively. The optimum process condition was estimated by 100 $gf/cm^2$ of down force and 60 rpm of table speed with the consideration of good removal uniformity about 5.0% as well as excellent surface roughness for the large-area CdTe solar cell.

• 한국전기전자재료학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국전기전자재료학회 2008년도 추계학술대회 논문집 Vol.21
• /
• pp.73-73
• /
• 2008

In this work, the study on the $SiO_2$ film non-uniformity by PECVD (Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) was performed. Plasma diagnostics was analyzed by a DLP(Double Langmuir Probe) and a probe-type QMS(Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer) in order to investigate the spatial distribution of the plasma species in the chamber. The relationship between the plasma species and the depositing rate of the films was examined. On the basis of this work, it was confirmed that O radical density mainly contributed to the increase in the depositing rate of the $SiO_2$ films and the electron temperature in the plasma had a main effect on the formation of the oxygen radicals.

• 한국진공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국진공학회 2011년도 제41회 하계 정기 학술대회 초록집
• /
• pp.148-148
• /
• 2011

Recently, there have been many research activities to develop the large-area plasma source, which is able to generate the high-density plasma with relatively good uniformity, for the plasma processing in the thin-film solar cell and display panel industries. The large-area CCP sources have been applied to the PECVD process as well as the etching. Especially, the PECVD processes for the depositions of various films such as a-Si:H, ${\mu}c$-Si:H, Si3N4, and SiO2 take a significant portion of processes. In order to achieve higher deposition rate (DR), good uniformity in large-area reactor, and good film quality (low defect density, high film strength, etc.), the application of VHF (>40 MHz) CCP is indispensible. However, the electromagnetic wave effect in the VHF CCP becomes an issue to resolve for the achievement of good uniformity of plasma and film. Here, we propose a new electrode as part of a method to resolve the standing wave effect in the large-area VHF CCP. The electrode is split up a series of strip-type electrodes and the strip-type electrodes and the ground ones are arranged by turns. The standing wave effect in the longitudinal direction of the strip-type electrode is reduced by using the multi-feeding method of VHF power and the uniformity in the transverse direction of the electrodes is achieved by controlling the gas flow and the gap length between the powered electrodes and the substrate. Also, we provide the process results for the growths of the a-Si:H and the ${\mu}c$-Si:H films. The high DR (2.4 nm/s for a-Si:H film and 1.5 nm/s for the ${\mu}c$-Si:H film), the controllable crystallinity (~70%) for the ${\mu}c$-Si:H film, and the relatively good uniformity (1% for a-Si:H film and 7% for the ${\mu}c$-Si:H film) can be obtained at the high frequency of 40 MHz in the large-area discharge (280 mm${\times}$540 mm). Finally, we will discuss the issues in expanding the multi-electrode to the 8G class large-area plasma processing (2.2 m${\times}$2.4 m) and in improving the process efficiency.

• 한국전기전자재료학회논문지
• /
• 제37권2호
• /
• pp.148-153
• /
• 2024

As complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) is scaled down to achieve higher chip density, thin-film layers have been deposited iteratively. The poor film uniformity resulting from deposition or chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) significantly affects chip yield. Therefore, the development of novel fabrication processes to enhance film uniformity is required. In this context, high-pressure deuterium annealing (HPDA) is proposed to reduce the surface roughness resulting from the CMP. The HPDA is carried out in a diluted deuterium atmosphere to achieve cost-effectiveness while maintaining high pressure. To confirm the effectiveness of HPDA, time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) are employed. It is confirmed that the absorbed deuterium gas facilitates the diffusion of silicon atoms, thereby reducing surface roughness.

• 한국진공학회지
• /
• 제4권S1호
• /
• pp.190-195
• /
• 1995

The feature scale model for selective chemical vapor deopsition process was proposed and the simulation was performed to study the selectivity and uniformity of deposited thin film using Monte Carlo method and string algorithm. The effect of model parameters such as sticking coefficient, aspect ratio, and surface diffusion coefficient on the deposited thin film pattern was improved for lower sticking coefficient and higher aspect ratio. It was revealed that the selectivity loss ascrives to the surface diffusion. Different values of sticking coefficients on Si and on SiO2 surface greatly influenced the deopsited thin film profile. In addition, as the lateral wall angle decreased, the selectively deposited film had improved uniformity except the vicinity of trench wall. The optimum eondition for the most flat selective film deposition pattern is the case with low sticking coefficient and slightly increased surface diffusion coefficient.

• 한국재료학회지
• /
• 제21권1호
• /
• pp.56-66
• /
• 2011

Multi-source evaporation is one of the methods to improve the thickness uniformity of thin films deposited by evaporation. In this study, a simulator for the relative thickness profile of a thin film deposited by a multi-source evaporation system was developed. Using this simulator, the relative thickness profiles of the evaporated thin films were simulated under various conditions, such as the number and arrangements of sources and source-to-substrate distance. The optimum conditions, in which the thickness uniformity is minimized, and the corresponding efficiency, were obtained. The substrate was a 5th generation substrate (dimensions of 1300 mm ${\times}$ 1100 mm). The number of sources and source-to-substrate distance were varied from 1 to 6 and 0 to the length of the major axis of the substrate (1300 mm), respectively. When the source plane, the area on which sources can be located, is limited to the substrate dimension, the minimum thickness uniformity, obtained when the number of sources is 6, was 3.3%; the corresponding efficiency was 16.6%. When the dimension of the source plane is enlarged two times, the thickness uniformity is remarkably improved while the efficiency is decreased. The minimum thickness uniformity, obtained when the number of sources is 6, was 0.5%; the corresponding efficiency was decreased to 9.1%. The expansion of the source plane brings about not only the improvement of the thickness uniformity, but also a decrement of the efficiency and an enlargement of equipment.

• 한국정밀공학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국정밀공학회 1997년도 추계학술대회 논문집
• /
• pp.935-938
• /
• 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.