• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.132-137
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• 2010

Plasma etching of $SiO_2$ contact holes was statistically analyzed by a fractional factorial experimental design. The analysis revealed the dependence of the etch rate and DC self-bias voltage on the input factors of the magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching reactor, including gas pressure, magnetic field, and the gas flow rates of $CHF_3$, $CF_4$, and Ar. Empirical models of the DC self-bias voltage and etch rate were obtained. The DC self-bias voltage was found to be determined mainly by the operating pressure and the magnetic field, and the etch rate was related mainly to the pressure and the flow rates of Ar and $CHF_3$.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.6-12
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• 2000

In this study, molybdenum thin films were etched with Cl\ulcorner/(Cl\ulcorner+SF\ulcorner) gas mixing ratio in an magneti-cally enhanced reactive ion etching(MERIE) by the etching parameters such as rf power of 250 watts, chamber pressure of 100 mTorr and B-field of 30 gauss. The etch rate was 150nm/min under Cl\ulcorner/(Cl\ulcorner+SF\ulcorner) gas mixing ratio of 0.25. At this time, the selectivity of Mo to SiO\ulcorner, photoresist were respectively 0.94, 0.05. The surface reaction of the etched Mo thin films was investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). It was analyzed that Mo peaks was mainly observed in Mo-O bonds formed MoO\ulcorner compounds and F was detected in Mo-F and O-F bonds. Cl peaks were detected by the peak of Cl 2p\ulcorner in Cl-Mo bonds of MoCl\ulcorner or MoO\ulcornerCl\ulcorner formulas. Almost all of both Cl and S atoms had been com-bined with Mo, respectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 1999.05a
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• pp.34-38
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• 1999

In this study, molybdenum thin films were etched with the various Cl$_2$/(Cl$_2$+SF$_{6}$) gas mixing ratio in an magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching(MERIE) by the etching parameter such as rf power of 185 watts, chamber pressure of 40 mTorr and B-field of 80 gauss. The etch rate was 150 nm/min under Cl$_2$/(Cl$_2$+SF$_{6}$) gas mixing ratio of 0.25. At this time, the selectivity of Mo to SiO$_2$, photoresist were respectively 0.94, 0.50. The surface reaction of the etched Mo thin films was investigated with X - ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).PS).

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.236-243
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• 2004

The oxide etching process was characterized in a magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching (MERIE) reactor with a $CHF_3CF_4$ gas chemistry. A statistical experimental design plus one center point was used to characterize relationships between process factors and etch response. The etch response modeled are etch rate, etch selectivity to TiN and uniformity. Etching uniformity was improved with increasing $CF_4$ flow ratio, increasing source power, and increasing pressure depending on source power. Characterization of via etching in $CHF_3CF_4$ MERIE using neural networks was successfully executed giving to highly valuable information about etching mechanism and optimum etching condition. It was found that etching uniformity was closely related to surface polymerization, DC bias, TiN and uniformity.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2000.07c
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• pp.1491-1493
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• 2000

Continuing improvement of microprocessor performance involves in the device size. This allow greater device speed, an increase in device packing density, and an increase in the number of functions that can reside on a single chip. However this has led to propagation delay, crosstalk noise, and power dissipation due to resistance-capacitance(RC) coupling become significant due to increased wiring capacitance, especially interline capacitance between the metal lines on the same metal level. So, MSSQ which has the permittivity between 2.5-3.2 is used to prevent from these problems. For pattering MSSQ(Methylsilsequioxane), we use RIE(Reactive Ion Etching) and MERIE(Magnetically enhanced Reactive Ion Etching) which could provide good anisotropic etching. In this study, we optimized the flow rate of $CF_{4}/O_2$ gas, RF power to obtain the best etching rate and roughness and also analyzed the etching result using $\alpha$-step profilemeter, SEM, infrared spectrum and AFM.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.211-220
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• 2002

This study characterizes an oxide etching process in a magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching (MERIE) reactor with a $CHF_3/CF_4$ gas chemistry. We use a statistical $2^{4-1}$ experimental design plus one center point to characterize the relationships between the process factors and etch responses. The factors that we varied in the design include RF power, pressure, and gas composition, and the modeled etch responses were the etch rate, etch selectivity to TiN, and uniformity. The developed models produced 3D response plots. Etching of $SiO_2$ mainly depends on F density and ion bombardment. $SiO_2$ etch selectivity to TiN sensitively depends on the F density in the plasma and the effects of ion bombardment. The process conditions for a high etch selectivity are a 0.3 to 0.5 $CF_4$ flow ratio and a -600 V to -650 V DC bias voltage according to the process pressure in our experiment. Etching uniformity was improved with an increase in the $CF_4$ flow ratio in the gas mixture, an increase in the source power, and a higher pressure. Our characterization of via etching in a $CHF_3/CF_4$ MERIE using neural networks was successful, economical, and effective. The results provide highly valuable information about etching mechanisms and optimum etching conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.77-77
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• 2011

These days, a growing demand for memory device is filled up with the flash memory and the dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Although DRAM is a reasonable solution for current demand, the universal novel memory with high density, high speed and nonvolatility, needs to be developed. Among various new memories, the magnetic random access memory (MRAM) device is considered as one of good candidate memories because of excellent features including high density, high speed, low operating power and nonvolatility. The etching of MTJ stack which is composed of magnetic materials and insulator such as MgO is one of the vital process for MRAM. Recently, MgO has attracted great interest in the MTJ stack as tunneling barrier layer for its high tunneling magnetoresistance values. For the successful realization of high density MRAM, the etching process of MgO thin films should be investigated. Until now, there were some works devoted to the investigations on etch characteristics of MgO thin films. Initially, ion milling was applied to the etching of MgO thin films. However, ion milling has many disadvantages such as sidewall redeposition and etching damage. High density plasma etching containing the magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching and high density reactive ion etching have been employed for the improvement of etching process. In this work, inductively coupled plasma reactive ion etching (ICPRIE) system was adopted for the improvement of etching process using MgO thin films and etching gas mixes of $CH_4$/Ar and $CH_4$/$O_2$/Ar have been employed. The etch rates are measured by a surface profilometer and etch profiles are observed using field emission scanning emission microscopy (FESEM). The effects of gas concentration and etch parameters such as coil rf power, dc-bias voltage to substrate, and gas pressure on etch characteristics will be systematically explored.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.996-1002
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• 2000

Ferroelectric (Ba, Sr) TiO$_3$(BST) thin films have attracted much attention for use in new capacitor materials of dynamic random access memories (DRAMs). In order to apply BST to the DRAMs, the etching process for BST thin film with high etch rate and vertical profile must be developed. However, the former studies have the problem of low etch rate. In this study, in order to increase the etch rate, BST thin films were etched with a magnetically enhanced inductively coupled plasma(MEICP) that have much higher plasma density than RIE (reactive ion etching) and ICP (inductively coupled plasma). Experiment was done by varying the etching parameters such as CF$_4$/(CF$_4$+Ar) gas mixing ratio, rf power, dc bias voltage and chamber pressure. The maximum etch rate of the BST films was 170nm/min under CF$_4$/CF$_4$+Ar) of 0.1, 600 W/-350 V and 5 mTorr. The selectivities of BST to Pt and PR were 0.6 and 0.7, respectively. Chemical reaction and residue of the etched surface were investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS).

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 1996.02a
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• pp.158-158
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• 1996

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.120-126
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• 2004

A damage-reduced trench was investigated in view of the defect distribution along trench sidewall and bottom using high resolution transmission electron microscopy, which was formed by HBr plasma and additive gases in magnetically enhanced reactive ion etching system. Adding $O_2$ and other additive gases into HBr plasma makes it possible to eliminate sidewall undercut and lower surface roughness by forming the passivation layer of lateral etching. To reduce the RIE induced damage and obtain the fine shape trench corner rounding, we investigated the hydrogen annealing effect after trench formation. Silicon atomic migration on trench surfaces using high temperature hydrogen annealing was observed with atomic scale view. Migrated atoms on crystal surfaces formed specific crystal planes such as (111), (113) low index planes, instead of fully rounded comers to reduce the overall surface energy. We could observe the buildup of migrated atoms against the oxide mask, which originated from the surface migration of silicon atoms. Using this hydrogen annealing, more uniform thermal oxide could be grown on trench surfaces, suitable for the improvement of oxide breakdown.