• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2008.06a
• /
• pp.242-242
• /
• 2008

반도체 공정에서 일정한 패턴을 만들기 위하여 Photoresist (PR)를 이용한 식각 공정을 사용하게 된다. 이러한 식각 공정은 반도체 직접도가 증가되면서 더욱 많은 단계의 공정을 요구하게 되었다. 그러나 식각 공정의 증가는 반도체 소자 생산을 위한 더 많은 시간과 비용을 요구하게 된다. 이를 해결하기 위하여 Photoresist를 사용하지 않은 공정으로 공정 단계를 간소화하기 위한 연구를 진행하고 있지만 아직 명확한 대한은 없다. 본 연구에서 는 PR의 strip 시간을 최대한 단축시키고 PR strip 잔여물의 빠른 제거를 위하여 기존 공정에서 사용 중인 strip 약 액을 플라즈마에 의하여 활성화하는 방법으로 PR strip 시간을 최대한 줄이는 방법에 대한 연구를 진행하였으며, 활성화된 strip용액이 더욱 빠른 strip율을 나타내는 것을 확인하였다. 또한 약액 활성화 방법으로 활성화된 strip 용액으로 PR을 일부 제거한 후 PR 표면의 물리적 특성 변화를 분석하여 약액 활성화된 strip 용액으로 인한 PR의 특성을 물리적 방법으로 접근하여 연구를 진행하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.544-548
• /
• 2008

At the semiconductor industry, Photoresist(PR) strip progress has high cost and time consuming process. Accordingly, many research group have been focused on the shortening of the PR strip progress. But the replacements of newly developed materials rather than normally used strip have accompanied by cost consumption. Therefore, we suggested the Plasma Liquid-Vapor Activation (PLVA) method of general PR strip solution for saving the PR strip time and the high strip rate of PR residue. The PLVA method was very effective for PR strip progress. Also, the ion damaged PR(high dose implanted photoresist: HDI-PR) was almost impossible to strip. However, it was very difficult to characterize the change of chemical composition of HDI-PR between with and without PLVA method. Thus, physical properties of HDI-PR surface with and without PLVA method were measured by using the nano-indenter system.

• Journal of the Semiconductor & Display Technology
• /
• v.5 no.2 s.15
• /
• pp.37-39
• /
• 2006

We employed in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry(SE) and imaging ellipsometry(IE) to study the interaction of water and photoresist(PR) in 193 immersion lithography. Real time measurement of SE showed thickness increase when PR was immerged in water indicating swelling effect. From the temporal evolution we could observe its reaction-limited behavior. Meanwhile, IE could identify the modification of PR surface by contact of water even for a short period of a second.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
• /
• 2008.06a
• /
• pp.385-386
• /
• 2008

Reducing the PR(Photoresist) dispense Rate is one of the important issues in Photolithography. It is a main concern that variation in PR dispense rate and existance of microbubble. so we need to measure the photoresist dispense rate more precisely. This paper presented a noble sensor of measuring the PR dispense and detecting the microbubble.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.113-116
• /
• 2008

As the integration in semiconductor display develops, semiconductor process becomes multilayer. In order to form several layer patterns, etching process which uses photoresistor (PR) must be performed in multilayer process. Repeated etching processes which take long time and PR residue cause mortal problems in semiconductor. To overcome such problems, we studied about the solution which eliminates PR effectively by using normal dry and wet etching method using plasma activated PR strip solvent in liquid condition. At first, we simulate the device which activates the plasma and make sure whether gas flow in device is uniform or not. Under activated plasma, etching effect is elevated. This improvement reduces etching time as well as display production time of semiconductor process. Generally, increasing etching process increases environmental hazards. Reducing etching process can save the etchant and protect environment as well.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.20 no.11
• /
• pp.977-982
• /
• 2007

The realization of the photoresist(PR) removal method with vaporized water and ozone gas mixture has been studied for the LCD TFT array manufacturing. The developed PR stripper uses the water boundary layer control method based on the high concentration ozone production technology. We develop the prototype of PR stripper and experiment to find the optimal process parameter condition like as the ozone gas flow/concentration, process reaction time and thin boundary layer formation. As a results, we realize the LCD PR strip rate over the 0.4 ${\mu}m/min$ and this PR removal rate is more than 5 times higher than the conventional immersion type ozonized water process.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.68-72
• /
• 2003

In this paper, we developed a new thick photoresist fabrication technology for 3-dimensional microstructures. In general, like as AZ photoresist was coated with thin film thickness about 1 $\mu\textrm{m}$ to 30 $\mu\textrm{m}$, but photoresist like SU-8 has thickness of several tens $\mu\textrm{m}$ or more and high aspect ratio. When we fabricate a microstructure using the thick photoresist like SU-8, cracks on the SU-8 thick photoresist are appeared by stress which was caused by sudden cooling down during bake of the thick photoresist spun on wafer. Thus, it was hard to fabricate the microstructure using the thick photoresist for electroplating. In this paper, we developed a new process to produce a 3-dimensional microstructure without the crack by stress through a suitable thick photoresist coating, time control of cool down and time control of PEB (Post Expose Bake).

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.44 no.5
• /
• pp.498-504
• /
• 2006

The etch rates of photoresist (PR) and the etch selectivity of $SiO_2$ to PR in a high density $CHF_3$ plasma were investigated at different ion-incident angles and bias voltages. A Faraday cage was employed for the accurate control of ion-incident angles. The ion energy was controlled by changing bias voltages. The etch rate of $SiO_2$ continuously decreased with ion-incident angles but the etch rate of PR remained constant up to the middle angle region and decreased afterwards. The etch rates of $SiO_2$ normalized to those at $0^{\circ}$ incident angle changed with the ion-incident angle following a cosine(${\theta}$) curve. On the other hand, the normalized etch rates of the PR changed showing a drastic over-cosine shape in the middle angle region. The etch selectivity of $SiO_2$ to PR decreased with an increase in the ion-incident angle because the etch yields of PR were enhanced by physical sputtering in the middle angle region compared to the case of $SiO_2$ etching. The etch selectivity of $SiO_2$ to PR decreased with an increase in the bias voltage at nearly all ion-incident angles.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.97-101
• /
• 2009

In the modem semiconductor industry, the progress that consumes the most capital and labor is cleansing process. Cleansing process is to remove impurities that can affect the operation of the device and deteriorate its function. Especially, Photoresist (PR) progress that etches the device always requires cleansing at the end of the progress. Also, HDI-PR (High-Dose Ion-implanted Photoresist) created from PR progress is difficult to remove. Thus, in modem IC cleansing, many steps of cleansing are used, including dry and wet cleansing. In this paper, we suggested to combine existing dry-cleansing and wet-cleansing, each represented by plasma cleansing and stripper solution, as Plasma Liquid-Vapor Activation (PLVA). This PLVA method enhances the effect of existing cleansing solution, and decreases the amount of solution and time required to strip. We stripped HDI-PR by activated solution and measured surface hardness and Young's modulus by Nano-indenter. Nano-indenter is the equipment that determines the hardness and the modulus of elasticity by indenting nano-sized tip with specific shape into the surface and measuring weight and z-axis displacement. We measured the change of surface hardness and Young's modulus before and after the cleansing. As a result, we found out that the surface hardness of the sample sharply decreased after the cleansing by plasma-activated PR stripper solution. It can be considered that if physical surface-cleansing process is inserted after this, more effective elimination of HDI-PR is possible.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2012.02a
• /
• pp.464-464
• /
• 2012

본 연구에서는 DBD (Dielectric Barrier Discharge)방식을 통해 발생된 대기압 plasma를 이용한 Photoresist (PR) Ashing에 관한 연구를 하였다. 사용된 DBD 반응기는 기존의 blank planar plate 형태의 Power가 인가되는 anode 부분과 Dielectric Barrier 사이 공간을 액상의 도전체로 채워 넣은 형태의 전극이 사용 하였으며, 인가 Power는 40 kHz AC 최대 인가 전압 15 kV를 사용 하였고(본 연구에서 인가 power는 30 KHz,전압 14 KV를 고정시킴) 플라즈마를 발생시 라디칼의 활성화를 유지하기 위해 전극 온도가 $180^{\circ}C$ 정하였다. Feeding 가스는 N2, 반응가스로는 CDA(Clean Dry Air), SF6와 CF4가스를 사용 하였으며 모든 공정은 In-line type으로 시편을 처리 하였다. CDA ratio의 경우에 질소대비 0.2%때 이송속도 30 mm/sec 1회 처리 기존 PR ashing은 최대 $320{\AA}$의 ashing 두께를 얻을 수 있었다. SF6와 CDA가스를 같이 반응하는 경우 ratio는 CDA : SF6 = 0.6% : 0.6%에서 PR ashing rate이 $841{\AA}/pass$의 값을 얻을 수 있었고, CDA가스만 첨가하는 경우보다 약2.6배 증가함을 관찰할 수 있었다. CF4 가스를 사용하는 경우 ratio는 CDA : CF4 = 0.2% : 0.2%에서 PR ashing rate이 $687{\AA}/pass$의 값을 얻을 수 있으며 CDA가스만 첨가하는 경우보다 약 2.1배 증가함을 관찰할 수 있었다. 그리고 PR ashing rate가 가스첨가종류와 비율에 따라서 변화함을 관찰하였고 최적조건을 찾기 위해 연구를 진행하였다. 추후 PR ashing rate가 향상을 하기 위해 가스혼합비율 및 stage 온도등 조건을 조절하여 공정최적조건을 얻기 위해 연구를 진행하였다.