• Proceedings of the Korea Association of Crystal Growth Conference
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• 1999.06a
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• pp.337-350
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• 1999

Thick diamond film having ~700${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ thickness was deposited on polycrystalline molybdenum (Mo) substrate using high power (4kW) microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MPECVD) system. We could achieve free-standing diamond film via detaching as-deposited diamond film from the substrate by rapid cooling them under vacuum. We investigated the variation of photoconductivity after exposing the film surface to either oxygen or hydrogen plasma. At as-grown state, the growth side (the as-grown surface of the film) showed noticeable photoconductivity. The oxygen plasma treatment of this side led to the insulator. After exposing the film surface to hydrogen plasma, on the other hand, we could observe the reappearing of photoconductivity at the growth side. Based on these results, we suggest that the hydrogen plasma treatment may enhance the photoconductivity of free-standing diamond film.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.441-445
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• 1999

Thick diamond film having $~700\mu\textrm{m}$ thickness was deposited on polycrystalline molybdenum(Mo) substrate using high power (4 kW) microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor depostion (MPECVD) system. We could achieve free-standing diamond film via detaching as-deposited diamond film from the substrate by rapid cooling them under vacuum. We investigated the variation of photoconductivity after exposing the film surface to either oxygen or hydrogen plasma. At as-grown state, the growth side (the as-grown surface of the film) showed noticeable photoconcuctivity. The oxygen plasma treatment of this side led to the insulator. After exposing the film surface to hydrogen plasma, on the other hand, we could observe the reappearing of photoconductivity at the growth side. Based on these results, we suggest that the hydrogen plasma treatment may enhance the photoconductivity of free-standing diamond film.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.424-432
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• 2000

The plasma surface treatment, using hydrogen gas, of the silicon wafer was investigated as a pretreatment for the application to silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers using the silicon direct bonding technique. The chemical reactions of hydrogen plasma with surfaces were used for both the surface activation and the removal of surface contaminants. As a result of exposure of silicon wafer to the plasma, an active oxide layer was formed on the surface, which was rendered hydrophilic. The surface roughness and morphology were estimated as functions of plasma exposing time as well as of power. The surface became smoother with decreased incident hydrogen ion flux by reducing plasma exposing time and power. This process was very effective to reduce the carbon contaminants on the silicon surface, which was responsible for a high initial surface energy. The initial surface energy measured by the crack propagation method was 506 mJ/m2, which was up to about three times higher than that of a conventional RCA cleaning method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.246-246
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• 2010

As the trench width in the interconnect technology decreases down to nano-scale below 50 nm, superconformal gap-filling process of Cu becomes very critical for Cu interconnect. Obtaining superconfomral gap-filling of Cu in the nano-scale trench or via hole using MOCVD is essential to control nucleation and growth of Cu. Therefore, nucleation of Cu must be suppressed near the entrance surface of the trench while Cu layer nucleates and grows at the bottom of the trench. In this study, suppression of Cu nucleation was achieved by treating the Ru barrier metal surface with capacitively coupled hydrogen plasma. Effect of hydrogen plasma pretreatment on Cu nucleation was investigated during MOCVD on atomic-layer deposited (ALD)-Ru barrier surface. It was found that the nucleation and growth of Cu was affected by hydrogen plasma treatment condition. In particular, as the plasma pretreatment time and electrode power increased, Cu nucleation was inhibited. Experimental data suggests that hydrogen atoms from the plasma was implanted onto the Ru surface, which resulted in suppression of Cu nucleation owing to prevention of adsorption of Cu precursor molecules. Due to the hydrogen plasma treatment of the trench on Ru barrier surface, the suppression of Cu nucleation near the entrance of the trenches was achieved and then led to the superconformal gap filling of the nano-scale trenches. In the case for without hydrogen plasma treatments, however, over-grown Cu covered the whole entrance of nano-scale trenches. Detailed mechanism of nucleation suppression and resulting in nano-scale superconformal gap-filling of Cu will be discussed in detail.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.83-92
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• 2021

The ionization degree of hydrogen is crucial in the physics of the plasma in the solar chromosphere. It specifically limits the range of plasma temperatures that can be determined from the Hα line. Given that the chromosphere greatly deviates from the local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) condition, precise determinations of hydrogen ionization require the solving of the full set of non-LTE radiative transfer equations throughout the atmosphere, which is usually a formidable task. In many cases, it is still necessary to obtain a quick estimate of hydrogen ionization without having to solve for the non-LTE radiative transfer. Here, we present a simple method to meet this need. We adopt the assumption that the photoionizing radiation field changes little over time, even if physical conditions change locally. With this assumption, the photoionization rate can be obtained from a published atmosphere model and can be used to determine the degree of hydrogen ionization when the temperature and electron density are specified. The application of our method indicates that in the chromospheric environment, plasma features contain more than 10% neutral hydrogen at temperatures lower than 17,000 K but less than 1% neutral hydrogen at temperatures higher than 23,000 K, implying that the hydrogen temperature determined from the Hα line is physically plausible if it is lower than 20,000 K, but may not be real, if it is higher than 25,000 K. We conclude that our method can be readily exploited to obtain a quick estimate of hydrogen ionization in plasma features in the solar chromosphere.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.221-231
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• 2023

Interest in aluminum alloys for the hydrogen valves of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) is growing due to the reduction in fuel efficiency by the high weight. However, when an aluminum alloy is used, deterioration in mechanical characteristics caused by hydrogen embrittlement and wear is regarded as a problem. In this investigation, the aluminum alloy used to prevent hydrogen embrittlement was subjected to surface treatments by performing hard anodizing and plasma ion nitriding processes. The hard anodized Al alloy exhibited brittleness in which the mechanical characteristics rapidly deteriorated due to porosity and defects of surface, resulting in a decrease in the ultimate tensile strength and modulus of toughness by 15.58 and 42.51%, respectively, as the hydrogen charging time increased from 0 to 96 hours. In contrast, no distinct nitriding layer in the plasma ion-nitrided Al alloy was observed due to oxide film formation and processing conditions. However, compared to 0 and 96 hours of hydrogen charging time, the ultimate tensile strength and modulus of toughness decreased by 7.54 and 13.32%, respectively, presenting excellent resistance to hydrogen embrittlement.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.284-284
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• 2010

Currently, hydrogen has been produced by Steam Reforming or partial oxidation reforming processes mainly from oil, coal, and natural gas and results in the production of $CO_2$. However, these are influenced greatly on the green house effect of the earth. so it is important to find the new way to produce hydrogen utilizing water without producing any environmentally harmful by-products. In our research, we use microwave water plasma and photocatalyst to improve dissociation rate of water. At low pressure plasma, electron have high energy but density is low, so temperature of reactor is low. This may cause of recombination in the generated hydrogen and oxygen from splitting water. If it want to high dissociation rate of water, it is necessary to control of recombination of the hydrogen and oxygen using photocatalyst. We utilize the photocatalytic material($TiO_2$, ZnO) coated plasma reactor to use UV in the plasma. The quantity of hydrogen generated was measured by a Residual Gas Analyzer.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.351-359
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• 1996

We have investigated the effect of hydrogen plasma on the formation of InAs QDs (quantum dots) structure by using a CBE (chemical beam epitaxy)system equipped with ECR (electron cyclotron resonance) plasma source. It is confirmed that the formation of self-organized InAs-QDs on GaAs is started after the growth of InAs layer up to 2.6 ML (monolayer) with the irradiation of hydrogen plasma while it is started after 1.9 ML without hydrogen gas and hydrogen plasma through the observation of RHEED patterns. Density and size of the QDs formed at $T_{sub}=370^{\circ}C$ are $1.9{\times}10^{11}cm^{-2}$ and 17.7 nm without hydrogen plasma, and $1.3{\times}10^{11}cm^{-2}$ and 19.4 nm with hydrogen plasma, respectively. It is also observed from the PL(photoluminescence) measurement on InAs-QDs that red shift in PL peak energy and broadening in FWHM (full width at half maximum)of PL peak caused by the effects of hydrogen plasma on the increment of size and its distribution. These effects of hydrogen plasma are considered as a act of atomic hydrogen which enhances the layer-growth of InAs on GaAs resulted from the relief of misfit strain between GaAs substrate and InAs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.288-288
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• 2012

The oxidation characteristics of tungsten line pattern during the carbon-based mask layer removal process using oxygen plasmas and the reduction characteristics of the WOx layer formed on the tungsten line surface using hydrogen plasmas have been investigated for sub-50 nm patterning processes. The surface oxidation of tungsten line during the mask layer removal process could be minimized by using a low temperature ($300^{\circ}K$) plasma processing instead of a high temperature plasma processing for the removal of the carbon-based material. Using this technique, the thickness of WOx on the tungsten line could be decreased to 25% of WOx formed by the high temperature processing. The WOx layer could be also completely removed at the low temperature of $300^{\circ}K$ using a hydrogen plasma by supplying bias power to the tungsten substrate to provide an activation energy for the reduction. When this oxidation and reduction technique was applied to actual 40 nm-CD device processing, the complete removal of WOx formed on the sidewall of tungsten line could be observed.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.35-40
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• 2010

We have investigated the effects of hydrogen injection via in-situ gas addition ($O_2$, $H_2$, or $O_2$ + $H_2$ gas) and plasma post-treatment (Ar or Ar + H plasma) on material properties of ZnO that is considered to be as a channel layer in transparent thin film transistors. The variations in the electrical resistivity, optical transmittance and bandgap energy, and crystal quality of ZnO thin films were characterized in terms of the methods and conditions used in hydrogen injection. The resistivity was significantly decreased by injection of hydrogen; approximately $10^6\;{\Omega}cm$ for as-grown, $1.2\;{\times}\;10^2\;{\Omega}cm$ for in-situ with $O_2/H_2\;=\;2/3$ addition, and $0.1\;{\Omega}cm$ after Ar + H plasma treatment of 90 min. The average transmittance of ZnO films measured at a wavelength of 400-700 nm was gradually increased by increasing the post-treatment time in Ar + H plasma. The optical bandgap energy of ZnO films was almost monotonically increased by decreasing the $O_2/H_2$ ratio in in-situ gas addition or by increasing the post-treatment time in Ar + H plasma, while the post-treatment using Ar plasma hardly affected the bandgap energy. The role of hydrogen in ZnO was discussed by considering the creation and annihilation of oxygen vacancies as well as the formation of shallow donors by hydrogen.