• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.328-334
• /
• 2004

A series of methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (MPEG)-poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) diblock copolymers were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization of L-lactide and glycolide with carbitol (134 g/mole) or different molecular weights of MPEG (550, 2000, and 5000 g/mole) as an initiator in presence of Sn(Oct)$_2$. The properties of diblock copolymers were characterized by using $^1$H-NMR, GPC, and XRD. After uniform mixing of block copolymers and 1% albumin bovine-fluorescein isothiocyanate(FITC-BSA) with a freeze miller, the wafers loaded FITC-BSA were fabricated by using a mold with a dimensions of 3 mm${\times}$1mm diameter. The release profiles of FITC-BSA and the pH changes of wafer were examined using pH 7.4 PBS for 30 days at 37$^{\circ}C$. The release profiles of albumin showed fast initial burst as the molecular weights of MPEG increased. As a result of this study, the release behavior of BSA was controlled with introducing MPEG in the block copolymers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2010.02a
• /
• pp.464-464
• /
• 2010

A few years ago, for maintaining high stability and production yield of production equipment in a semiconductor fab, on-line monitoring of wafers is required, so that semiconductor manufacturers are investigating a software based process controlling scheme known as virtual metrology (VM). As semiconductor technology develops, the cost of fabrication tool/facility has reached its budget limit, and reducing metrology cost can obviously help to keep semiconductor manufacturing cost. By virtue of prediction, VM enables wafer-level control (or even down to site level), reduces within-lot variability, and increases process capability, $C_{pk}$. In this research, we have practiced VM on $SiO_2$ etch rate with optical emission spectroscopy(OES) data acquired in-situ while the process parameters are simultaneously correlated. To build process model of $SiO_2$ via, we first performed a series of etch runs according to the statistically designed experiment, called design of experiments (DOE). OES data are automatically logged with etch rate, and some OES spectra that correlated with $SiO_2$ etch rate is selected. Once the feature of OES data is selected, the preprocessed OES spectra is then used for in-situ sensor based VM modeling. ICP-RIE using 葰.56MHz, manufactured by Plasmart, Ltd. is employed in this experiment, and single fiber-optic attached for in-situ OES data acquisition. Before applying statistical feature selection, empirical feature selection of OES data is initially performed in order not to fall in a statistical misleading, which causes from random noise or large variation of insignificantly correlated responses with process itself. The accuracy of the proposed VM is still need to be developed in order to successfully replace the existing metrology, but it is no doubt that VM can support engineering decision of "go or not go" in the consecutive processing step.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2010.02a
• /
• pp.9-10
• /
• 2010

Since the discovery of graphene by mechanical exfoliation from graphite[1], various fabrication methods are available today such as chemical exfoliation, epitaxial graphene on SiC substrates, etc. In view of industrialization, the mechanical exfoliation method may not be an option. Epitaxial graphene on SiC substrates, in this respect, is by far more practical because the method consists of conventional thermal treatments familiar to semiconductor industry. Still, the use of the SiC substrate itself, and hence the incompatibility with the Si technology, lessens the importance of this technology in its future industrialization. In this context, we have tackled the problem of forming graphene on Si substrates (GOS). Our strategy is to form an ultrathin (~80 nm) SiC layer on top of a Si substrate, and to graphitize the top SiC layers by a vacuum annealing. We have actually succeeded in forming the GOS structure [2,3,4]. Raman-scattering microscopy indicates presence of few-layer graphene (FLG) formed on our annealed SiC/Si heterostructure, with the G ($1580\;cm^{-1}$) and the G'($2700\;cm^{-1}$) bands, both related to ideal graphene, clearly observed. Presence of the D ($1350\;cm^{-1}$) band indicates presence of defects in our GOS films, whose elimination remains as a challenge in the future. To obtain qualified graphene films on Si substrate, formation of qualified SiC films is crucial in the first place, and is achieved by tuning the growth parameters into a process window[5]. With a potential for forming graphene films on large-scale Si wafers, GOS is a powerful candidate as a key technology in bringing graphene into silicon technology.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2010.02a
• /
• pp.322-322
• /
• 2010

For boron doping on n-type silicon wafer, around $1,000^{\circ}C$ doping temperature is required, because of the relatively low solubility of boron in a crystalline silicon comparing to the phosphorus case. Boron doping by fiber laser annealing and lamp furnace heat treatment were carried out for the uniformly deposited p-a-Si:H layer. Since the uniformly deposited p-a-Si:H layer by cluster is highly needed to be doped with high temperature heat treatment. Amorphous silicon layer absorption range for fiber laser did not match well to be directly annealed. To improve the annealing effect, we introduce additional lamp furnace heat treatment. For p-a-Si:H layer with the ratio of $SiH_4:B_2H_6:H_2$=30:30:120, at $200^{\circ}C$, 50 W power, 0.2 Torr for 30 min. $20\;mm\;{\times}\;20\;mm$ size fiber laser cut wafers were activated by Q-switched fiber laser (1,064 nm) with different sets of power levels and periods, and for the lamp furnace annealing, $980^{\circ}C$ for 30 min heat treatment were implemented. To make the sheet resistance expectable and uniform as important processes for the $p^+$ layer on a polished n-type silicon wafer of (100) plane, the Q-switched fiber laser used. In consequence of comparing the results of lifetime measurement and sheet resistance relation, the fiber laser treatment showed the trade-offs between the lifetime and the sheet resistance as $100\;{\omega}/sq.$ and $11.8\;{\mu}s$ vs. $17\;{\omega}/sq.$ and $8.2\;{\mu}s$. Diode level device was made to confirm the electrical properties of these experimental results by measuring C-V(-F), I-V(-T) characteristics. Uniform and expectable boron heavy doped layers by fiber laser and lamp furnace are not only basic and essential conditions for the n-type crystalline silicon solar cell fabrication processes, but also the controllable doping concentration and depth can be established according to the deposition conditions of layers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2010.02a
• /
• pp.37-37
• /
• 2010

Silicate-silsesquioxane or siloxane-silsesquioxane hybrid thin films are strong candidates as matrix materials for ultra low dielectric constant (low-k) thin films. We synthesized the silicate-silsesquioxane hybrid resins from tetraethoxyorthosilicate (TEOS) and methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) through hydrolysis and condensation polymerization by changing their molar ratios ([TEOS]:[MTMS] = 7:3, 5:5, and 3:7), spin-coating on Si(100) wafers. In the case of [TEOS]:[MTMS] 7:3, the dielectric permittivity value of the resultant thin film was measured at 4.30, exceeding that of the thermal oxide (3.9). This high value was thought to be due to Si-OH groups inside the film and more extensive studies were performed in terms of electronic, ionic, and orientational polarizations using Debye equation. The relationship between the mechanical properties and the synthetic conditions of the silicate-silsesquioxane precursors was also investigated. The synthetic conditions of the low-k films have to be chosen to meet both the low orientational polarization and high mechanical properties requirements. In addition, we have investigated a new solution-based approach to the synthesis of semiconducting chalcogenide films for use in thin-film transistor (TFT) devices, in an attempt to develop a simple and robust solution process for the synthesis of inorganic semiconductors. Our material design strategy is to use a sol-gel reaction to carry out the deposition of a spin-coated CdS film, which can then be converted to a xerogel material. These devices were found to exhibit n-channel TFT characteristics with an excellent field-effect mobility (a saturation mobility of ${\sim}\;48\;cm^2V^{-1}s^{-1}$) and low voltage operation (< 5 V). These results show that these semiconducting thin film materials can be used in low-cost and high-performance printable electronics.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.18-23
• /
• 2009

The influence of various surface morphologies on the mechanical strength of silicon substrates was investigated in this study. The yield for the solar cell industry is mainly related to the fracturing of silicon wafers during the manufacturing process. The flexural strengths of silicon substrates were influenced by the density of the pyramids as well as by the size and the rounded surface of the pyramids. To characterize and optimize the relevant texturing process in terms of mechanical stability and the fabrication yield, the mechanical properties of textured silicon substrates were investigated to optimize the size and morphology of random pyramids. Several types of silicon substrates were studied, including the planar type, a textured surface with large and small pyramids, and a textured surface with rounded pyramids. The surface morphology and a cross-section of the as-textured and fractured silicon substrates were investigated by scanning electron microscopy.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
• /
• v.23 no.8 s.185
• /
• pp.171-177
• /
• 2006

This study was performed as a part of the research on the development of a maskless and electroless process for fabricating metal micro/nanostructures by using a nanoindenter and an electroless deposition technique. $2-{\mu}m$-deep indentation tests on Ni and Cu samples were performed. The elastic recovery of the Ni and Cu was 9.30% and 9.53% of the maximum penetration depth, respectively. The hardness and the elastic modulus were 1.56 GPa and 120 GPa for Ni and 1.51 GPa and 104 GPa for Cu. The effect of single-point diamond machining conditions such as the Berkovich tip orientation (0, 45, and $90^{\circ}$ ) and the normal load (0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1, 3, and 5 mN), on both the deformation behavior and the morphology of cutting traces (such as width and depth) was investigated by constant-load scratch tests. The tip orientation had a significant influence on the coefficient of friction, which varied from 0.52-0.66 for Ni and from 0.46- 0.61 for Cu. The crisscross-pattern sample showed that the tip orientation strongly affects the surface quality of the machined are a during scratching. A selective deposition of Cu at the pit-like defect on a p-type Si(111) surface was also investigated. Preferential deposition of the Cu occurred at the surface defect sites of silicon wafers, indicating that those defect sites act as active sites for the deposition reaction. The shape of the Cu-deposited area was almost the same as that of the residual stress field.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
• /
• v.23 no.4_2
• /
• pp.675-682
• /
• 2020

Multi-wire sawing is the prominent technology employed to cut hard material ingots into wafers. This paper aimed to research the effect of diamond toughness index on the cutting performance of electroplated diamond wire. Three different toughness index of diamond abrasives were used to manufacture electroplated diamond wires. The cutting performance of electroplated diamond wire is verified through experiments, in which sapphire ingot are cut using single wire sawing machine. A single wire saw for constant load slicing is developed for the cutting performance evaluation of electroplated diamond wire. Choosing the cutting depth, total cutting depth, cutting force and wear of electroplated diamond wires as evaluation parameters, the performance of electroplated diamond wire is evaluated. The results of this study showed that there was a significant direct relationship between the toughness index of diamond abrasives and the cutting performance. Results demonstrated that diamond abrasive with a high toughness index showed higher cutting performance. However, all diamond abrasives showed similar cutting performance under low load conditions. The results of this paper are useful for the development of cutting large diameter ingots and cutting high hardness ingots at high speed.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.11 no.11
• /
• pp.4121-4128
• /
• 2010

A probe card is used in testing semiconductor wafers. It must maintain a precise location tolerance for a fine pitch due to highly densified chips. However, high heat transferred from its lower chuck causes thermal deformations of the probe card. Vertical deformation due to the heat will bring contact problems to the pins in the probe card, while horizontal deformation will cause positional inaccuracies. Therefore, probe cards must be designed with proper materials and structures so that the thermal deformations are within allowable tolerances. In this paper, heat transfer analyses under realistic loading conditions are simulated using ANSYS$^{TM}$ finite element analysis program. Thermal deformations are calculated based on steady-state temperature gradients, and an optimal structure of the probe card is proposed by adjusting a set of relevant design parameters so that the deformations are minimized.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.642-651
• /
• 1996

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between monomer compositions and the changes in the degree of conversion in the various layers of composites after additional heat curing. Four types of composites and 3 types of inlay ovens were used in this study. Composite was placed in a 4-mm thick teflon mold, and light cured from the top for 60 seconds. Ten samples were prepared for each composite ; 5 of these were additionally heat cured in an inlay oven as the manufacturer recommended. After light curing or light and heat curing, the samples were sectioned into four parts and assigned to groups A, B, C, or D according to their distance from the light source. These sections were then thinned to 50-$70{\mu}m$, and these wafers were analyzed with a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer(FI-IR) to determine the degree of conversion. A standard baseline technique was used to calculate the degree of conversion. $^{13}C$ NMR spectra of bis-GMA, TEGDMA and bis-EMA, were acquired using a Varian Gemini spectrometer operated at 200 MHz. $CDCl_3$ solvent was used for qualitative analysis. The degree of conversion was affected by bis-GMA : TEGDMA ratio but it seemed to be also affected by other factors. When the composites were heat cured, significant increases in the degree of conversion were noted throughout the samples, but the amount of increase differed between materials. Thus, clinical performance of a heat-treated composite inlay may be different depending on materials.