ALD BeneQ

General Description

ALD allows depositing thin films with atomic layer control in a simple and reproducible process, with low impurity contamination, for a variety of applications, with possibility of deposition on very high aspect/ratio structures that need to be coated conformally. No other thin film technique can approach the conformality achieved by ALD on high aspect ratio structures.
ALD is able to meet the needs for atomic layer control and conformal deposition using sequential, self-limiting surface reactions. The advantages of ALD are precise thickness control at the Ångstrom or monolayer level. The self-limiting aspect of ALD leads to excellent step coverage and conformal deposition on high aspect ratio structures. ALD films remain extremely smooth and conformal to the original substrate because the reactions are driven to completion during every reaction cycle.
Low temperature ALD enables ALD on thermally sensitive materials such as organic polymers. ALD on polymers may be useful to functionalize the polymer surface, to create unique inorganic/organic polymer composites, and to deposit gas diffusion barriers on polymers.
ALD process is based on the principle of sequential pulsing of the vapours of precursor chemicals, where nearly one atomic layer is formed for each pulse. Between the reactant pulses, excess reactants and reaction by-products are purged out or evacuated.

Equipment name and Company: TFS 200 / BeneQ

Technical specification

  • single wafer reaction chamber
  • highly modular structure for research purpouses
  • deposition of Al2O3, TiO2, ZnO, and Al-doped ZnO (AZO) (liquid source) and Ta2O5 (hot source) thin layers
  • uniformity of deposition guaranteed also on high aspect-ratio structures
  • three room-temperature liquid sources, one hot source with two interchangeable precursor containers (for liquid and solid precursor materials which need heating to reach sufficient vapor pressure, up to 300°C)
  • ozone gas line, which allows the deposition of other types of materials, such as Fe oxides (hematite, magnetite).