• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.213-213
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• 2010

Magnetic random access memory (MRAM), based on magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) and CMOS, is one of the best semiconductor memories because it can provide nonvolatility, fast access time, unlimited read/write endurance, low operating voltage and high storage density. For the realization of high density MRAM, the etching of MTJ stack with good properties is one of a key process. Recently, there has been great interest in the MTJ stack using MgO as barrier layer for its huge room temperature MR ratio. The use of MgO barrier layer will undoubtedly accelerate the development of MTJ stack for MRAM. In this study, high-density plasma reactive ion etching of MgO films was investigated in an inductively coupled plasma of $Cl_2$/Ar gas mixes. The etch rate, etch selectivity and etch profile of this magnetic film were examined on vary gas concentration. As the $Cl_2$ gas concentration increased, the etch rate of MgO monotonously decreased and etch slop was slanted. The effective of etch parameters including coil rf power, dc-bais voltage, and gas pressure on the etch profile of MgO thin film was explored, At high coil rf power, high dc-bais voltage, low gas pressure, the etching of MgO displayed better etch profiles. Finally, the clean and vertical etch sidewall of MgO films was achieved using $Cl_2$/Ar plasma at the optimized etch conditions.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.146-150
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• 2021

Plasma information based virtual metrology (PI-VM) that predicts wafer-to-wafer etch rate variation after wet cleaning of plasma facing parts was developed. As input parameters, plasma information (PI) variables such as electron temperature, fluorine density and hydrogen density were extracted from optical emission spectroscopy (OES) data for etch plasma. The PI-VM model was trained by stepwise variable selection method and multi-linear regression method. The expected etch rate by PI-VM showed high correlation coefficient with measured etch rate from SEM image analysis. The PI-VM model revealed that the root cause of etch rate variation after the wet cleaning was desorption of hydrogen from the cleaned parts as hydrogen combined with fluorine and decreased etchant density and etch rate.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.231-237
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• 2001

Etch rates up to 120 nm/min for $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ were achieved in both $SF_{6}/Ar$ and $Cl_{2}/Ar$ discharges. The effect of ultraviolet (UV) light illumination during ICP etching on $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ etch rate in those plasma chemistries was examined and UV illumination was found to produce significant enhancements in $Ta_{2}O_{5}$ etch rates most likely due to photoassisted desorption of the etch products. The effects of ion flux, ion energy, and plasma composition on (Ba, Sr)$TiO_3$ etch rate were examined and maximum etch rate ~90 nm/min was achieved in $Cl_{2}/Ar$ ICP discharges while $CH_{4}/H_{2}/Ar$ chemistry produced extremely low etch rates (${\leq}10\;nm/min$) under all conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics D
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• v.34D no.3
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• pp.87-92
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• 1997

Inductively coupled Cl$_{2}$ plasma has been studied to etch Pt thin films, which hardly form volatile compound with any reactive gas at normal process temperature. Low etch rate and residue problems are frequently observed. For higher etch rate, high density plasma and higher process temperature is adopted observed. For higher etch rate, high density plasma and higher process temperature is adopted and thus SiO$_{2}$ is used as for patterning mask instead of photoresist. The effect of O$_{2}$ or Ar addition to Cl$_{2}$ was investigated, and the chamber pressure, gas flow rate, surce RF power and bias RF power are also varied to check their effects on etch rate and selectivity. The major etching mechanism is the physical sputtering, but the ion assisted chemical raction is also found to be a big factor. The proposs can be optimized to obtain the etch rate of Pt up to 200nm/min and selectivity to SiO$_{2}$ at 2.0 or more. Patterning of submicron Pt lines are successfully demonstrated.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.79-83
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• 2009

In this study, the characteristics of amorphous silicon etching for the formation of gate electrodes have been evaluated at the variation of several process parameters. When total flow rates composed of $Cl_2/HBr/O_2$ gas mixtures increased, the etch rate of amorphous silicon layer increased, but critical dimension (CD) bias was not notably changed regardless of total flow rate. As the amount of HBr in the mixture gas became larger, amorphous silicon etch rate was reduced by the low reactivity of Br species. In the case of increasing oxygen flow rate, etch selectivity was increased due to the reduction of oxide etch rate, enhancing the stability of silicon gate etching process. However, gate electrodes became more sloped according to the increase of oxygen flow rate. Higher source power induced the increase of amorphous silicon etch rate and CD bias, and higher bias power had a tendency to increase the etch rate of amorphous silicon and oxide.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.116-119
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• 2010

The etching characteristics of zinc oxide (ZnO) were investigated, including the etch rate and the selectivity of ZnO in a $Cl_2/BCl_3$/Ar plasma. It was found that the ZnO etch rate, the RF power, and the gas pressure showed non-monotonic behaviors with an increasing Cl2 fraction in the $Cl_2/BCl_3$/Ar plasma, a gas mixture of $Cl_2$(3 sccm)/$BCl_3$(16 sccm)/Ar (4 sccm) resulted in a maximum ZnO etch rate of 53 nm/min and a maximum etch selectivity of 0.89 for ZnO/$SiO_2$. We used atomic force microscopy to determine the roughness of the surface. Based on these data, the ion-assisted chemical reaction was proposed as the main etch mechanism for the plasmas. Due to the relatively low volatility of the by-products formed during etching with $Cl_2/BCl_3$/Ar plasma, ion bombardment and physical sputtering were required to obtain the high ZnO etch rate. The chemical states of the etched surfaces were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). This data suggested that the ZnO etch mechanism was due to ion enhanced chemical etching.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.305-310
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• 2008

Deep trench etching of silicon was investigated as a function of RF source power, DC bias voltage, $C_4F_8$ gas flow rate, and $O_2$ gas addition. On increasing the RF source power from 300 W to 700 W, the etch rate was increased from $3.52{\mu}m/min$ to $7.07{\mu}m/min$. The addition of $O_2$ gas improved the etch rate and the selectivity. The highest etch rate is achieved at the $O_2$ gas addition of 12 %, The selectivity to PR was 65.75 with $O_2$ gas addition of 24 %. At DC bias voltage of -40 V and $C_4F_8$ gas flow rate of 30 seem, We were able to achieve etch rate as high as $5.25{\mu}m/min$ with good etch profile.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2003.07b
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• pp.868-871
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• 2003

In recent years, silicon carbide has emerged as an important material for MEMS application. In order to fabricate an SiC film based MEMS structure by using chemical etching method, high operating temperature is required due to high chemical stability. Therefore, dry etching using plasma is the best solution. SiC film was deposited by thermal CVD at the temperature of $1000^{\circ}C$ and pressure of 10 torr. SiC was dry etched with a reactive ion etching (RIE) system, using $SF_6/O_2$ and $CF_4/O_2$ gas mixture. Etch rate have been investigated as a function of oxygen concentration in the gas mixture, RF power, and working pressure. Etch rate was measured by surface profiler and FE-SEM. $SF_6/O_2$ gas mixture has been shown high etch rate than $CF_4/O_2$ gas mixture. Maximum etch rate appeared at 450W of RF power. $O_2$ dilute mixtures resulted in an increasing of etch rate up to 40%, and the superior anisotropic cross section was observed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.56-56
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• 1999

For advanced TFT-LCD manufacturing processes, dry etching of thin-film layers(a-Si, $SiN_x$, SID & gate electrodes, ITO etc.) is increasingly preferred instead of conventional wet etching processes. To dry etch Al gate electrode which is advantageous for reducing propagation delay time of scan signals, high etch rate, slope angle control, and etch uniformity are required. For the Al gate electrode, some metals such as Ti and Nd are added in Al to prevent hillocks during post-annealing processes in addition to gaining low-resistivity($<10u{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$), high performance to heat tolerance and corrosion tolerance of Al thin films. In the case of AI-Nd alloy films, however, low etch rate and poor selectivity over photoresist are remained as a problem. In this study, to enhance the etch rates together with etch uniformity of AI-Nd alloys, magnetized inductively coupled plasma(MICP) have been used instead of conventional ICP and the effects of various magnets and processes conditions have been studied. MICP was consisted of fourteen pairs of permanent magnets arranged along the inside of chamber wall and also a Helmholtz type axial electromagnets was located outside the chamber. Gas combinations of $Cl_2,{\;}BCl_3$, and HBr were used with pressures between 5mTorr and 30mTorr, rf-bias voltages from -50Vto -200V, and inductive powers from 400W to 800W. In the case of $Cl_2/BCl_3$ plasma chemistry, the etch rate of AI-Nd films and etch selectivity over photoresist increased with $BCl_3$ rich etch chemistries for both with and without the magnets. The highest etch rate of $1,000{\AA}/min$, however, could be obtained with the magnets(both the multi-dipole magnets and the electromagnets). Under an optimized electromagnetic strength, etch uniformity of less than 5% also could be obtained under the above conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.233-233
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• 2010

Magnetic random access memory (MRAM), based on magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) and CMOS, is a prominent candidate among prospective semiconductor memories because it can provide nonvolatility, fast access time, unlimited read/write endurance, low operating voltage and high storage density. The etching of MTJ stack with good properties is one of a key process for the realization of high density MRAM. In order to achieve high quality MTJ stack, the use of CoFeB and IrMn magnetic films as free layers was proposed. In this study, inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching of CoFeB and IrMn thin films masked with Ti hard mask was investigated in a $Cl_2$/Ar gas mix. The etch rate of CoFeB and IrMn films were examined on varying $Cl_2$ gas concentration. As the $Cl_2$ gas increased, the etch rate monotonously decreased. The effective of etch parameters including coil rf power, dc-bais voltage, and gas pressure on the etch profile of CoFeB and IrMn thin film was explored, At high coil rf power, high dc-bais voltage, low gas pressure, the etching of CoFeB and IrMn displayed better etch profiles. Finally, the clean and vertical etch sidewall of CoFeB and IrMn free layers can be achieved by means of thin Ti hard mask in a $Cl_2$/Ar plasma at the optimized condition.