Based on academic and technical capabilities including the 2013 Samsung Electronics Gold Field Award and the 2012 Korean Material Metal Engineering Association’s Best Thesis Award, the company developed a new concept etching equipment, APM.
Features of APM
Unlike conventional ion beam etching equipment, the self-developed ion beam etching equipment (Advanced Plasma Machine, APM) through various research and development has become possible to perform etching by using physical method of NiFe as a mask material.
In addition, unlike ion Miller, which is a physical etching equipment, it is able to respond to each other in a large area and has properties that allow processing without any deformation of the material caused by heat generated during etching.
Holding technology of Vault creation
1. Large area etching
Our ion beam was designed to efficient process of large surface materials in the chamber. It can process the material to the desired size.
2. Low temperature etching
To work sapphire which is one of the most difficult materials to each physically, We can use etching mask made of even OHP film.
Etching mask is method to create a geometrically structured by etching. Areas where etching is not desired are covered by an etchinh Mask.
During etching process with OHP film, no deformation is occurred to the film. It proves that the APM etching process is conducted at a low temperature.
APM etching does not make the thermal deformation of the workpiece during processing.
3. Precision and high yield
APM is the most suitable for precision process like making shadow masks for over 700ppi display by using atomic ion beam
In addition, the particles during the etching process are dropped down by gravity. So there is no secondary contamination from them. That increases the throughput yield of the APM process.
4. Eco-Friendly etching
It is a method of processing by physical impact, not by chemical melting process.
In the processing, the APM process uses inert gases such as argon which are completely harmless to the human body and do not generate environmental pollutant.
And the particles of the etching process are dropped by gravity, which can be collected without any chemical contamination.
Process results of the ion beam of APM
60 μm
50 μm
40 μm
35 μm
30 μm
25 μm
Differences between existing technology and our new technology
In the conventional dry etching equipment, NiFe can not be etched. But in the case of the present invention, it is possible to perform ultra-precision NiFe etching by atomic-scale ion dry etching.
Conventional dry etching generates high temperature heat and its selection ratio (Ni Fe etching rate vs. Photo Resist etching rate) is low during the process. On the other hand, APM process has a low temperature and high. So the APM etching has no deformation of PR(Photo Resist) in the process.
Although PR is not able to withstand current dry etching due to temperature rise during general etching process, the APM machines developed from ‘Vault Creation’ can work in low temperature without transformation of PR.
Conventional dry etching takes lots of time to manufacture, which makes the process less reliable. However, APM process reduces the time dramatically because it etches all area of etching surface at once after the lithography process.
To summarize, etching using APM is a excellent choice in the aspects of productivity, precision and stability.