• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2009

Silicon dioxide as gate dielectrics was grown at $400^{\circ}C$ on a polycrystalline Si substrate by inductively coupled plasma oxidation using a mixture of $O_2$ and $N_2O$ to improve the performance of polycrystalline Si thin film transistors. In conventional high-temperature $N_2O$ annealing, nitrogen can be supplied to the $Si/SiO_2$ interface because a NO molecule can diffuse through the oxide. However, it was found that nitrogen cannot be supplied to the Si/$SiO_2$ interface by plasma oxidation as the $N_2O$ molecule is broken in the plasma and because a dense Si-N bond is formed at the $SiO_2$ surface, preventing further diffusion of nitrogen into the oxide. Nitrogen was added to the $Si/SiO_2$ interface by the plasma oxidation of mixtures of $O_2/N_2O$ gas, leading to an enhancement of the field effect mobility of polycrystalline Si TFTs due to the reduction in the number of trap densities at the interface and at the Si grain boundaries due to nitrogen passivation.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.12 no.9
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• pp.724-728
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• 2002

Inductively-coupled $N_2$O plasma was utilized to grow silicon dioxide at low temperature and applied to fabricate polycrystalline-silicon thin film transistors. At $400^{\circ}C$, the thickness of oxide was limited to 5nm and the oxide contained Si≡N and ≡Si-N-Si≡ bonds. The nitrogen incorporation improved breakdown field to 10MV/cm and reduced the interface charge density to $1.52$\times$10^{11}$ $cm^2$ with negative charge. The $N_2$O plasma gate oxide enhanced the field effect mobility of polycrystalline thin film transistor, compared to $O_2$ plasma gate oxide, due to the reduced interface charge at the $Si/SiO_2$ interface and also due to the reduced trap density at Si grain boundaries by nitrogen passivation.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.144-147
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• 2011

In this work, we present a study regarding the etching characteristics on titanium nitride (TiN) thin films using an inductively coupled plasma system. The TiN thin film was etched using a $N_2/BCl_3$/Ar plasma. The studied etching parameters were the gas mixing ratio, the radio frequency (RF) power, the direct current (DC)-bias voltages, and the process pressures. The baseline conditions were as follows: RF power = 500 W, DC-bias voltage = -150 V, substrate temperature = $40^{\circ}C$, and process pressure = 15 mTorr. The maximum etch rate and the selectivity of the TiN to the $SiO_2$ thin film were 62.38 nm/min and 5.7, respectively. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results showed no accumulation of etching byproducts from the etched surface of the TiN thin film. Based on the experimental results, the etched TiN thin film was obtained by the chemical etching found in the reactive ion etching mechanism.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.07a
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• pp.690-693
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• 2003

An Si substrate (100) was oxidized at $400^{\circ}C$ in inductively coupled oxygen plasma. Interstitial oxygen was found in the Si substrate at the initial stage of oxidation by IR measurements. An x-ray rocking curve of Si substrates showed a lower peak intensity due to lattice distortion by the interstitial oxygen. The refractive index of thin oxides, below which interstitial oxygen existed in the Si substrate, was smaller than the refractive index of thick oxides, below which no interstitial oxygen existed. The interstitial oxygen was found by plasma oxidation using $O_{2}$ gas and $N_{2}O$ gas. The inductively coupled plasma oxidation using $N_{2}O$ gas was performed by atomic oxygen, not by molecular oxygen, indicating that atomic oxygen in plasma is responsible for the incorporation of interstitial oxygen.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.251-255
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• 2009

In this study, the plasma etching of the TaN thin film with $O_2/BCl_3$/Ar gas chemistries was investigated. The equipment for the etching was an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system. The etch rate of the TaN thin film and the selectivity of TaN to $SiO_2$ and PR was studied as a function of the process parameters, including the amount of $O_2$ added, an RF power, a DC-bias voltage and the process pressure. When the gas mixing ratio was $O_2$(3 sccm)/$BCl_3$(6 sccm)/Ar(14 sccm), with the other conditions fixed, the highest etch rate was obtained. As the RF power and the dc-bias voltage were increased, the etch rate of the TaN thin film was increased. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate the chemical states of the surface of the TaN thin film.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.681-685
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• 2012

We investigated the dry etching characteristics of TiN in $TiN/Al_2O_3$ gate stack using a inductively coupled plasma system. TiN thin film is etched by BCl3/He plasma. The etching parameters are the gas mixing ratio, the RF power, the DC-bias voltages and process pressures. The highest etch rate is in $BCl_3/He$ (25%:75%) plasma. The selectivity of TiN thin film to $Al_2O_3$ is pretty similar with $BCl_3/He$ plasma. The chemical reactions of the etched TiN thin films are investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The intensities of the Ti 2p and the N 1s peaks are modified by $BCl_3$ plasma. Intensity and binding energy of Ti and N could be changed due to a chemical reaction on the surface of TiN thin films. Also we investigated that the non-volatile byproducts such as $TiCl_x$ formed by chemical reaction with Cl radicals on the surface of TiN thin films.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.426-434
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• 2008

A space averaged $SiH_4/O_2/Ar$ simulator for the high density inductively coupled plasma sources for $SiH_4/O_2/Ar$ discharge is developed. The developed simulator uses space averaged fluid equations for electrons, positive ions, negative ions, neutral species, and radicals in $SiH_4/O_2/Ar$ plasma discharge, and the electron heating model including the anomalous skin effect. Using the developed simulator, the dependency of the density of charged particles, neutral particles, and radicals, the electron temperature, the plasma resistance, and the power absorption coefficient for the RF power and pressure is calculated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.67-67
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• 2009

Due to the scaling down of the dielectrics thickness, the leakage currents arising from electron tunneling through the dielectrics has become the major technical barrier. Thus, much works has focused on the development of high k dielectrics in both cases of memories and CMOS fields. Among the high-k materials, $Al_2O_3$ considered as good candidate has been attracting much attentions, which own some good properties as high dielectric constant k value (~9), a high bandgap (~2eV) and elevated crystallization temperature, etc. Due to the easy control of ion energy and flux, low ownership and simple structure of the inductively coupled plasma (ICP), we chose it for high-density plasma in our study. And the $BCl_3$ was included in the gas due to the effective extraction of oxygen in the form of BClxOy compound. In this study, the etch characteristic of ALD deposited $Al_2O_3$ thin film was investigated in $BCl_3/N_2$ plasma. The experiment were performed by comparing etch rates and selectivity of $Al_2O_3$ over $SiO_2$ as functions of the input plasma parameters such as gas mixing ratio, DC-bias voltage and RF power and process pressure. The maximum etch rate was obtained under 15 mTorr process perssure, 700 W RF power, $BCl_3$(6 sccm)/$N_2$(14 sccm) plasma, and the highest etch selectivity was 1.9. We used the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to investigate the chemical reactions on the etched surface. The Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) was used for elemental analysis of etched surface.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.189-193
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• 2008

In this study, we carried out an investigation of the etching characteristics (etch rate, selectivity to $SiO_2$ and $HfO_2$) of TiN thin films in the $CH_4$/Ar inductively coupled plasma. The maximum etch rate of $274\;{\AA}/min$ for TiN thin films was obtained at $CH_4$(80%)/Ar(20%) gas mixing ratio. At the same time, the etch rate was measured as function of the etching parameters such as RF power, Bias power, and process pressure. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed an efficient destruction of the oxide bonds by the ion bombardment as well as showed an accumulation of low volatile reaction products on the etched surface. Based on these data, the ion-assisted chemical reaction was proposed as the main etch mechanism for the $CH_4$ containing plasmas.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.93-94
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• 2005

본 연구에서는 저온 공정에서 제작되는 소자에의 응용을 위하여 Inductively Coupled Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition(ICP-CVD) 내에서 $N_2O$ 기체를 활용한 plasma oxidation을 통한 silicon 표면의 oxynitridation과 이로부터 tunnel gate dielectirics로 사용될 SiON 층을 형성하였으며, 형성된 SiOxNy 층의 전기적 특성을 측정하여 tunnel gate dielectrics로서 효과적인 기능을 수행함을 확인하였다. 형성된 박막의 성분 분석을 위하여 energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS)를 이용하여 SiOxNy 층의 생성을 확인하였으며, 전기적인 특성을 통하여 tunnel gate dielectrics의 기능을 수행함을 알 수 있었다. 형성된 SiOxNy 층은 초박막 형태임에도 절연막으로서의 기능을 나타내었다.