Novel development of an inductively coupled thermal plasma with pulse amplitude modulation of electromagnetic field

A novel system of an inductively coupled thermal plasma with a fundamental frequency of 450 kHz has been developed. This system has a capability of modulating the amplitude of the coil current periodically with a cycle on the order of 10 ms, including an inverter power supply rated with a power of 50 kW, an induction plasma torch with a 10‐turn coil, and vacuum chamber. The controlled modulation of the coil current can lead the plasma to be under various transient states intentionally. A pulse‐modulated inductively coupled plasma of Ar‐H₂ plasma was successfully generated at a plasma power of 30 kW under the atmospheric pressure condition. The on‐time and off‐time of the pulsation were set to 10 and 5 ms, respectively, for a stable pulse‐modulated plasma establishment, and the ratio of minimum to maximum of the amplitude of the coil current can be set down to 61.7%. In order to investigate the transient behavior of the plasma dynamics in such a pulsing mode, spectroscopic observations of an argon atomic spectral line at a wavelength of 751 nm were made. It was found that the pulse‐modulated plasma has a characteristic time on the order of 2 to 5 ms to rise or to decrease. The excitation temperature of the Ar atom was estimated from the spectroscopic measurement by the Boltzmann plot method, and it was found to change periodically from 5000 to 10,000 K with the pulse modulation of the amplitude of the coil current. © 2002 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 138(4): 26–33, 2002; DOI 10.1002/eej.1135     

Crack initiation at free edge of interface between thin films in advanced LSI

Since electronic devices are made of multi-layered sub-micron films, delamination along the interface is one of the major failure mechanisms. This paper aims to develop a method for evaluating the mechanical criterion of interface cracking between thin films on a substrate. The focus is put on crack initiation from the free edge of the interface where the stress concentrates due to the mismatch of elastic deformation. In the evaluation, it is important to exclude plastic deformation and fracture of the thin metal film, because they bring about ambiguity on the measured magnitude of interface strength. In this study, an experimental method is proposed on the basis of fracture mechanics concepts, and the validity is examined by tests on Cu (conductor metal)/TaN (barrier metal) interface in a large-scale integrated circuit. The critical stress intensity at delamination crack initiation is successfully analyzed by the boundary element method.     

Requirements of CAM in IC technology

Ultra clean technology (ultra clean processing environment, ultra clean wafer surface, perfect process-parameter control) is a crucial factor in developing high quality process technology for future ULSI fabrication. Wafers should never be exposed to air. The possibility of performing all wafer processes in equipment having the same hardware configuration is discussed based on the concept of a closed manufacturing system in conjunction with highly advanced super clean systems.     

Inactivation property of microorganisms in water irradiated by atmospheric‐pressure plasma using dielectric barrier discharge

Microorganisms in water were inactivated by irradiating with an atmospheric‐pressure plasma generated by a dielectric barrier discharge. To understand the inactivation mechanism of microorganisms, the actions due to irradiation with plasma discharge, heating, and chemical reaction are studied. We compare the buffer gases helium and argon in generating the atmospheric‐pressure plasma. The results indicate that the inactivation with the helium as buffer gas is higher than with argon. It is found that the inactivation ratio at different reactor volumes depends on the density of microorganisms in water. © 2013 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Design of a coordinated robust controller of SMES and blade pitch for smart‐grid power systems

This paper presents the design of a coordinated superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) and blade pitch controller (BPC) to stabilize the frequency in a smart‐grid power system. To compensate for such power variations, a SMES that is able to supply and absorb active power quickly can be applied to control the frequency fluctuation. The structure of the controller is that of a first‐order lead–lag compensator. The robustness of the controller is guaranteed by applying an inverse additive perturbation to represent possible unstructured uncertainties in the power system such as variation of system parameters, generating and loading conditions, etc. Genetic algorithm (GA) is applied to solve and achieve the control parameters. Simulation studies have been done to show the control effect and robustness of the proposed SMES and blade pitch in comparison with SMES & Pitch against various disturbances. © 2012 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A study of centralized voltage profile control of distribution network considering dynamics of distributed generator

In a future distribution network, it will be difficult to maintain system voltage because a large number of distributed generators are introduced into the system. The authors have previously proposed a voltage profile control method using power factor control of distributed generators. When all information on the system is available, an ideal stationary solution of control orders to distributed generators is given by an optimization calculation. However, it is difficult to apply optimization control in real time because a long calculation time is required for the optimization. Therefore, it is possible that a voltage change may occur before the power factor control has finished. Thus, in this paper, we develop a new control method which can save the excessive voltage changes by taking into consideration the controlled response time of distributed generators. The proposed method was tested in a 24‐node distribution network model. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 179(1): 29–39, 2012; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.21231     

Microstructures of SiO2 and TiOX films deposited by atmospheric pressure inductively coupled micro-plasma jet

Atmospheric-pressure inductively coupled micro-plasma jet was used for deposition of SiO₂ and TiO_x thin films. Si and Ti alkoxides respectively were vaporized into Ar gas to be decomposed thermally in the Ar plasma jet, being deposited as the metal oxide films. Microstructures of the films were investigated as changing the plasma conditions such as Ar gas flow rate and concentration of the alkoxides in Ar gas. The SiO₂ and TiO_x films deposited at higher Ar gas flow rates were composed of particles of micron or submicron sizes. The SiO₂ film was composed of a single layer of the particles and the particles sometimes formed unique aggregation structures. On the other hand, the TiO_x film had a structure in which the particles were piled up randomly. The structures suggested that the SiO₂ particles grew on the substrate whereas TiO_x particles were formed in plasma gas phase.     

Characterization of MgZnO films grown by plasma enhanced metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

MgZnO (magnesium-zinc-oxide) films were grown on (11-20) sapphire substrates and Zn-polar ZnO substrates by plasma enhanced metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (PE-MOCVD) employing microwave-excited plasma. Structural, electrical and optical properties were investigated by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscope, Hall, transmittance and photoluminescence measurement. The c-axis lattice constant decreases proportionally to an increase in the Mg content of Mg_xZn_1 − xO films. Therefore, this indicates that Mg atoms can be substituted in the Zn sites. Mg contents in films on ZnO substrates increase up to 0.11. In addition, Ga doped ZnO films were grown on (11-20) sapphire substrates. The resistivity of the films on (11-20) sapphire is controlled between 1.2 × 10^− 3 Ω cm to 1 Ω cm by changing the process conditions. The overall results indicate the promising potential of this PE-MOCVD method for related (Zn, Mg)O films formation because of the reactivity of the radicals, such as oxygen radicals (O?).     

Gate oxide reliability concerns in gate-metal sputtering deposition process: an effect of low-energy large-mass ion bombardment

The effects of ion species/ion bombardment energy in sputtering deposition process on gate oxide reliability have been experimentally investigated. The use of xenon (Xe) plasma instead of argon (Ar) plasma in tantalum (Ta) film sputtering deposition for gate electrode formation makes it possible to minimize the plasma-induced gate oxide damage. The Xe plasma process exhibits 1.5 times higher breakdown field and five times higher 50%-charge-to-breakdown (Q_BD). In the gate-metal sputtering deposition process, the physical bombardment of energetic ion causes to generate hole traps in gate oxide, resulting in the lower gate oxide reliability. The simplified model providing a better understanding of the empirical relation between the gate oxide damage and the ion-bombardment energy to gate oxide in gate-metal sputtering deposition process is also presented.