• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.10
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• pp.1706-1711
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• 2016

Electromagnetic wave simulation was performed to predict characteristics of manufactured cutoff probe at low temperature magnetized plasma medium. Microwave cutoff probe is designed for research the properties of magnetized inductively coupled plasma. It was shown that the cutoff probe method can safely be used for weakly magnetized high density plasma sources. Cutoff probe system with two port network analyzer has been prepared and applied to measure electron density distributions in large area, 13.56MHz driven weakly magnetized inductively coupled plasma source. The results shown that, the plasma frequency confirmed cut-off characteristics in low temperature plasma. Especially, cut-off characteristics was found at upper hybrid resonance frequency in the environment of the magnetic field. In case of a induced weak magnetic field in inductively coupled plasma, plasma density estimated from the cutoff frequency in the same way at unmagnetized plasma due to nearly same plasma frequency and upper hybrid resonance frequency. The plasma density is increased and uniformity is improved by applying a induced weak magnetic field in inductively coupled plasma.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.478-478
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• 2012

Recently, there are many researches in order to increase the deposition rate (D/R) and improve film uniformity and quality in the deposition of microcrystalline silicon thin film. These two factors are the most important issues in the fabrication of the thin film solar cell, and for the purpose of that, several process conditions, including the large area electrode (more than 1.1 X 1.3 (m2)), higher pressure (1 ~ 10 (Torr)), and very high frequency regime (VHF, 40 ~ 100 (MHz)), have been needed. But, in the case of large-area capacitively coupled discharges (CCP) driven at frequencies higher than the usual RF (13.56 (MHz)) frequency, the standing wave and skin effects should be the critical problems for obtaining the good plasma uniformity, and the ion damage on the thin film layer due to the high voltage between the substrate and the bulk plasma might cause the defects which degrade the film quality. In this study, we will propose the new concept of the large-area multi-electrode (a new multi-electrode concept for the large-area plasma source), which consists of a series of electrodes and grounds arranged by turns. The experimental results with this new electrode showed the processing performances of high D/R (1 ~ 2 (nm/sec)), controllable crystallinity (~70% and controllable), and good uniformity (less than 10%) at the conditions of the relatively high frequency of 40 MHz in the large-area electrode of 280 X 540 mm2. And, we also observed the SEM images of the deposited thin film at the conditions of peeling, normal microcrystalline, and powder formation, and discussed the mechanisms of the crystal formation and voids generation in the film in order to try the enhancement of the film quality compared to the cases of normal VHF capacitive discharges. Also, we will discuss the relation between the processing parameters (including gap length between electrode and substrate, operating pressure) and the processing results (D/R and crystallinity) with the process condition map for ${\mu}c$-Si:H formation at a fixed input power and gas flow rate. Finally, we will discuss the potential of the multi-electrode of the 3.5G-class large-area plasma processing (650 X 550 (mm2) to the possibility of the expansion of the new electrode concept to 8G class large-area plasma processing and the additional issues in order to improve the process efficiency.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.1691-1698
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• 2001

In recent years, significant progress has been made in modeling turbulence behavior in plasma and its effect on transport. It has also been made in diagnostics for turbulence measurement; however, there is still a large gap between theoretical model and experimental measurements. Visualization of turbulence can improve the connection to theory and validation of the theoretical model. One method to visualize the flow structures in plasma is a laser Schlieren imaging technique. We have recently applied this technique and investigated the characteristics of a highly underexpanded pulsed plasma jet originating from an electrothermal capillary source. Measurements include temporally resolved laser Schlieren imaging of a precursor blast wave. Analysis on the trajectory of the precursor blast wave shows that it does not follow the scaling expected for a strong shock resulting from the instantaneous deposition of energy at a point. However, the shock velocity does scale as the square root of the deposited energy, in accordance with the point deposition approximation.

• Vacuum Magazine
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.16-26
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• 2015

Carbon nanomaterials including nanocrystalline diamond and graphene films are expected to play a core role in $21^{st}$ century industries due to their amazing physicochemical properties. To achieve their practical utilization and industrialization, the development of their mass production technologies is strongly required. Recently, a surface wave excited plasma (SWP) which is produced using microwaves has been attracting special attentions as a candidate for the mass production technology of carbon nanomaterials. SWP can allow a low-temperature large-area plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system. Here, this article introduces the promising SWP-CVD technology. Plasma characteristics in a SWP will be introduced in detail to help understanding how to use and control a SWP as a plasma source for CVD applications.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.345-349
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• 1996

The wetting property of polymer surfaces is very important for practical applications. Plasma source ion implantation technique was used to improve the wetting properties of polymer surfaces. Poly(ethylene terephtalate) and other polymer sheets were mounted on the target stage and an RF plasma was generated by means of an antenna located inside the vacuum chamber. High voltage pulses of up to -10kV, 10 $\mu$sec, and up to 1 kHz were applied to the stage. The samples were implanted for 5 minutes with using Ar, $N_2,O_2,CH_4,CF_4$ and their mixture as source gases. A contact angle meter was used to measure the water contact angles of the implanted samples and of the samples stored in ambient conditions after implantation. The modified surfaces were analysed with Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (TOF-SIMS) and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES). The oxygen-implanted samples showed extremely low water contact angles of $3^{\circ}C$ compared to $79^{\circ}C$ of unimplanted ones. Furthermore, the modified surfaces were relatively stable with respect to aging in ambient conditions, which is one of the major concerns of the other surface treatment techniques. From TOF-SIMS analysis it was found that oxygen-containing functional groups had been formed on the implanted surfaces. On the other hand, the $CF_4$-implanted samples turned out to be more hydro-phobic than unimplanted ones, giving water contact angles exceeding $100^{\circ}C$ . The experiment showed that plasma source ion implantation is a very promising technique for polymer surface modification especially for large area treatment.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.274-281
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• 2010

This paper proposes a DFPS (Dual Frequency Power Source) impedance matching device for uniformity improvement of a semiconductor plasma etching system. The DFPS consists of two parts for safe plasma processing on large-area substrates. The first part is an ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) for high integration by using ferrite core. The second part is a CCP (Capacitive Coupled Plasma) to control uniformity of whole cells. Proposed DFPS can achieve high productivity improvement required for semiconductor equipment industry. The proposed plasma system is analyzed, simulated and experimentally verified with a matching equipment at 27.12MHz and 400kHz.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.421-421
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• 2012

Graphene has drawn enormous attention owing to its outstanding properties, such as high charge mobility, excellent transparence and mechanical property. Synthesis of Graphene by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is an attractive way to produce large-scale Graphene on various substrates. However the fatal limitation of CVD process is high temperature requirement(around $1,000^{\circ}C$), at which many substrates such as Al substrate cannot endure. Therefore, we propose plasma enhanced CVD (PECVD) and decrease the temperature to $400^{\circ}C$. Fig. 1 shows the typical structure of RF-PECVD instrument. The quality of Graphene is affected by several variables. Such as plasma power, distance between substrate and electronic coil, flow rate of source gas and growth time. In this study, we investigate the influence of these factors on Graphene synthesis in vacuum condition. And the results were checked by Raman spectra and conductivity measurement.

• Journal of Korean Vacuum Science & Technology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 1998

The reliability of fluorine doped silicon oxide (SiOF) films for intermetal dielectrics in multilevel interconnections of ultra-large scale integrated circuits (ULSIs) is investigated. SiOF films were deposited by electron cyclotron resonance plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (ECRPECVD) using H-free source gases, i.e., SiF4 and O2. The effect of post plasma treatment on the moisture absorption and dielectric properties of SiOF films was carried out I terms of air exposure time, The reliability test of Cu/TiN/SiOF/Fi specimen was carried out in terms of temperature by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in N2 ambient. After O2 plasma treatment,, no appreciable peak directly related to moisture absorption was detected. The capacitance-voltage (C-V) characteristics of the O2 plasma treated SiOF film showed that the film remained to hold the sound dielectric properties even after boiling treatment. The Cu/TiN/SiOF/Si system was found to be reliable up to $600^{\circ}C$.

• 한국정보디스플레이학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.768-773
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• 2005

We present an overview of our new method of liquid crystal (LC) alignment based on the anisotropic etching of the alignment layers with a directed plasma flux. The method is realized by the use of anode layer source of "race track" geometry generating two "sheets" of accelerated plasma. These sheets are directed obliquely to the treated substrates. The static and dynamic irradiation regimes have been explored. The optimized processing conditions and materials are discussed. The technique yields an excellent uniformity of liquid crystal alignment of planar, tilted and vertical types. It is shown that the new method can be easily adapted for the alignment treatment of large area substrates used in the modern LCD manufacturing process.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.148-148
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• 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.