• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.421-426
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• 2009

We report on the capacitively coupled O2 plasma etching of PMMA and polycarbonate (PC) with a diffusion pump. Plasma process variables were process pressure and CCP power at 5 sccm $O_2$ gas flow rate. Characterization was done in order to analyze etch rate, etch selectivity, surface roughness, and morphology using stylus surface profilometry and scanning electron microscopy. Self bias decreased with increase of process pressure in the range of 25$\sim$180 mTorr. We found an important result for optimum pressure for the highest etch rate of PMMA and PC, which was 60 mTorr. PMMA and PC had etch rates of 0.46 and 0.28 ${\mu}m$/min under pressure conditions, respectively. More specifically, etch rates of the materials increased when the pressure changed from 25 mTorr to 60 mTorr. However, they reduced when the pressure increased further after 60 mTorr. RMS roughnesses of the etched surfaces were in the range of 2.2$\sim$2.9 nm. Etch selectivity of PMMA to a photoresist was $\sim$1.5:1 and that of PC was $\sim$0.9:1. Etch rate constant was about 0.04 ${\mu}m$/minW and 0.02 ${\mu}m$/minW for PMMA and PC, respectively, with the CCP power change at 5 sccm $O_2$ and 40 mTorr process pressure. PC had more erosion on the etched sidewall than PMMA did. The OES data showed that the intensity of the oxygen atomic peak (777.196 nm) proportionally increased with the CCP power.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.236-236
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• 2008

(Bi,La)$Ti_3O_{12}$(BLT) thin film is one of the most attractive materials for ferroelectric random access memory (FRAM) applications due to its some excellent properties such as high fatigue endurance, low processing temperature, and large remanent polarization [1-2]. The authors firstly investigated and reported the damascene process of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) for BLT thin film capacitor on behalf of plasma etching process for fabrication of FRAM [3]. CMP process could prepare the BLT capacitors with the superior process efficiency to the plasma etching process without the well-known problems such as plasma damages and sloped sidewall, which was enough to apply to the fabrication of FRAM [2]. BLT-CMP characteristics showed the typical oxide-CMP characteristics which were related in both pressure and velocity according to Preston's equation and Hernandez's power law [2-4]. Good surface roughness was also obtained for the densification of multilevel memory structure by CMP process [3]. The well prepared BLT capacitors fabricated by CMP process should have the sufficient ferroelectric properties for FRAM; therefore, in this study the electrical properties of the BLT capacitor fabricated by CMP process were analyzed with the process parameters. Especially, the effects of CMP pressure, which had mainly affected the removal rate of BLT thin films [2], on the electrical properties were investigated. In order to check the influences of the pressure in eMP process on the ferroelectric properties of BLT thin films, the electrical test of the BLT capacitors was performed. The polarization-voltage (P-V) characteristics show a decreased the remanent polarization (Pr) value when CMP process was performed with the high pressure. The shape of the hysteresis loop is close to typical loop of BLT thin films in case of the specimen after CMP process with the pressures of 4.9 kPa; however, the shape of the hysteresis loop is not saturated due to high leakage current caused by structural and/or chemical damages in case of the specimen after CMP process with the pressures of 29.4 kPa. The leakage current density obtained with positive bias is one order lower than that with negative bias in case of 29.4 kPa, which was one or two order higher than in case of 4.9 kPa. The high pressure condition was not suitable for the damascene process of BLT thin films due to the defects in electrical properties although the better efficiency of process. by higher removal rate of BLT thin films was obtained with the high pressure of 29.4 kPa in the previous study [2].

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.384-391
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• 2005

A polymer optical microring resonator, which is laterally coupled to a straight bus waveguide, has been proposed and demonstrated using a nanoimprint technique. The propagation loss of the ring waveguide and the optical power coupling between the ring and bus waveguides was calculated by using a beam propagation method, then the dependence of the device performance on them was investigated using a transfer matrix method. We have especially introduced an imprint stamp incorporating a smoothing buffer layer made of a silicon nitride thin film. This layer played an efficient role in improving the sidewall roughness of the waveguide pattern engraved on the stamp and thus reducing the scattering loss. As a result the overall Q factor of the resonator was greatly increased. Also it reduced the gap between the ring and bus waveguides effectively to enhance the coupling between them, without relying on the direct writing method based on an e-beam writer. As for the achieved device performance at the wavelength of 1550 nm, the quality factor, the extinction ratio, and the free spectral range were ~103800, ~11 dB, and 1.16 m, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.161-165
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• 2005

We investigated selective dry etching of GaAs over AlGaAs and InGaP in high density planar inductively coupled $BCl_3/SF_6$ plasmas. The process parameters were ICP source power (0-500 W), RE chuck power (0-30W) and gas composition $(60-100\%\;BCl_3\;in\;BCl_3/SF_6)$. The process results were characterized in terms of etch rate, selectivities of GaAs over AlGaAs and InGaP, surface morphology, surface roughness and residues after etching. $BCl_3/SF_6$ selective etching of GaAs showed quite good results in this study. Selectivities of GaAs $(GaAs:AlGaAs\~36:1,\;GaAs:InGaP\~45:1)$ were superior at $18BCl_3/2SF_6$, 20 W RF chuck power, 300 W ICP source power and 7.5 mTorr. Addition of $(5-15\%)SF_6\;to\;BCl_3$ produced relatively high selectivities of GaAs over AlGaAs and InGaP during etching due to decrease of etch rates of AlGaAs and InGaP (boiling points of etch products: $AlF_3\~1300^{\circ}C,\;InF_3>1200^{\circ}C$ at atmosphere) at the condition. SEM and AFM data showed slightly sloped sidewall and somewhat rough surface$(RMS\~9nm)$. XPS study on the surface of processed GaAs proved a very clean surface after dry etching. It shows that planar inductively coupled $BCl_3/SF_6$ plasmas could be a good candidate for selective dry etching of GaAs over AlGaAs and InGaP.