Atomic Layer Deposition for the Synthesis of Thin Films

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical and Molecular Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2019) | Viewed by 30508

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering/SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066 Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do 16419, Korea
Interests: plasma for materials processing; PEALD; atomic layer etching

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a very important nanotechnology for next generation thin film deposition for various areas such as semiconductors, displays, solar cells, fuel cells, etc., which requires conformal deposition of high-quality materials on various substrates. The advantages of ALD include its conformal deposition on complicated materials’ surfaces, its precise control of materials thickness, and its high-quality materials synthesis at low temperatures. Plasma is also applied during ALD to promote reactant gas dissociation during the atomic layer deposition processes (plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD)) to deposit at much lower temperatures and higher deposition rates and to increase the possibility of ALD for various other materials. In this Special Issue, the research on various ALD techniques and the characteristics of materials deposited by ALD including PEALD, which are related to various areas such as electronic devices, energy devices, bio-devices, etc., are invited for the understanding of the role, impact, and advantages of ALD for next generation device fabrication.

Prof. Geun Young Yeom
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • plasma
  • atomic layer deposition
  • nanotechnology
  • low temperature

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 2444 KiB  
Article
Development of a SnS Film Process for Energy Device Applications
by Hyeongsu Choi, Namgue Lee, Hyunwoo Park, Yeonsik Choi, Keunsik Kim, Yeongtae Choi, Jongwoo Kim, Seokhwi Song, Hyunwoo Yuk and Hyeongtag Jeon
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(21), 4606; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9214606 - 29 Oct 2019
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4114
Abstract
Tin monosulfide (SnS) is a promising p-type semiconductor material for energy devices. To realize the device application of SnS, studies on process improvement and film characteristics of SnS is needed. Thus, we developed a new film process using atomic layer deposition (ALD) to [...] Read more.
Tin monosulfide (SnS) is a promising p-type semiconductor material for energy devices. To realize the device application of SnS, studies on process improvement and film characteristics of SnS is needed. Thus, we developed a new film process using atomic layer deposition (ALD) to produce SnS films with high quality and various film characteristics. First, a process for obtaining a thick SnS film was studied. An amorphous SnS2 (a-SnS2) film with a high growth rate was deposited by ALD, and a thick SnS film was obtained using phase transition of a-SnS2 film by vacuum annealing. Subsequently, we investigated the effect of seed layer on formation of SnS film to verify the applicability of SnS to various devices. Separately deposited crystalline SnS and SnS2 thin films were used as seed layer. The SnS film with a SnS seed showed small grain size and high film density from the low surface energy of the SnS seed. In the case of the SnS film using a SnS2 seed, volume expansion occurred by vertically grown SnS grains due to a lattice mismatch with the SnS2 seed. The obtained SnS film using the SnS2 seed exhibited a large reactive site suitable for ion exchange. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atomic Layer Deposition for the Synthesis of Thin Films)
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10 pages, 4493 KiB  
Article
Remote Plasma Atomic Layer Deposition of SiNx Using Cyclosilazane and H2/N2 Plasma
by Haewon Cho, Namgue Lee, Hyeongsu Choi, Hyunwoo Park, Chanwon Jung, Seokhwi Song, Hyunwoo Yuk, Youngjoon Kim, Jong-Woo Kim, Keunsik Kim, Youngtae Choi, Suhyeon Park, Yurim Kwon and Hyeongtag Jeon
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(17), 3531; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9173531 - 28 Aug 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 6665
Abstract
Silicon nitride (SiNx) thin films using 1,3-di-isopropylamino-2,4-dimethylcyclosilazane (CSN-2) and N2 plasma were investigated. The growth rate of SiNx thin films was saturated in the range of 200–500 °C, yielding approximately 0.38 Å/cycle, and featuring a wide process window. The [...] Read more.
Silicon nitride (SiNx) thin films using 1,3-di-isopropylamino-2,4-dimethylcyclosilazane (CSN-2) and N2 plasma were investigated. The growth rate of SiNx thin films was saturated in the range of 200–500 °C, yielding approximately 0.38 Å/cycle, and featuring a wide process window. The physical and chemical properties of the SiNx films were investigated as a function of deposition temperature. As temperature was increased, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis confirmed that a conformal thin film was obtained. Also, we developed a three-step process in which the H2 plasma step was introduced before the N2 plasma step. In order to investigate the effect of H2 plasma, we evaluated the growth rate, step coverage, and wet etch rate according to H2 plasma exposure time (10–30 s). As a result, the side step coverage increased from 82% to 105% and the bottom step coverages increased from 90% to 110% in the narrow pattern. By increasing the H2 plasma to 30 s, the wet etch rate was 32 Å/min, which is much lower than the case of only N2 plasma (43 Å/min). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atomic Layer Deposition for the Synthesis of Thin Films)
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Review

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24 pages, 4364 KiB  
Review
Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) of Metal Gates for CMOS
by Chao Zhao and Jinjuan Xiang
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(11), 2388; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9112388 - 11 Jun 2019
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 13410
Abstract
The continuous down-scaling of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) field effect transistors (FETs) had been suffering two fateful technical issues, one relative to the thinning of gate dielectric and the other to the aggressive shortening of channel in last 20 years. To solve [...] Read more.
The continuous down-scaling of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) field effect transistors (FETs) had been suffering two fateful technical issues, one relative to the thinning of gate dielectric and the other to the aggressive shortening of channel in last 20 years. To solve the first issue, the high-κ dielectric and metal gate technology had been induced to replace the conventional gate stack of silicon dioxide layer and poly-silicon. To suppress the short channel effects, device architecture had changed from planar bulk Si device to fully depleted silicon on insulator (FDSOI) and FinFETs, and will transit to gate all-around FETs (GAA-FETs). Different from the planar devices, the FinFETs and GAA-FETs have a 3D channel. The conventional high-κ/metal gate process using sputtering faces conformality difficulty, and all atomic layer deposition (ALD) of gate stack become necessary. This review covers both scientific and technological parts related to the ALD of metal gates including the concept of effect work function, the material selection, the precursors for the deposition, the threshold voltage (Vt) tuning of the metal gate in contact with HfO2/SiO2/Si. The ALD of n-type metal gate will be detailed systematically, based mainly on the authors’ works in last five years, and the all ALD gate stacks will be proposed for the future generations based on the learning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atomic Layer Deposition for the Synthesis of Thin Films)
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17 pages, 2840 KiB  
Review
Atomic Layer Deposition of Inorganic Thin Films on 3D Polymer Nanonetworks
by Jinseong Ahn, Changui Ahn, Seokwoo Jeon and Junyong Park
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(10), 1990; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9101990 - 15 May 2019
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 5745
Abstract
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a unique tool for conformally depositing inorganic thin films with precisely controlled thickness at nanoscale. Recently, ALD has been used in the manufacture of inorganic thin films using a three-dimensional (3D) nanonetwork structure made of polymer as a [...] Read more.
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a unique tool for conformally depositing inorganic thin films with precisely controlled thickness at nanoscale. Recently, ALD has been used in the manufacture of inorganic thin films using a three-dimensional (3D) nanonetwork structure made of polymer as a template, which is pre-formed by advanced 3D nanofabrication techniques such as electrospinning, block-copolymer (BCP) lithography, direct laser writing (DLW), multibeam interference lithography (MBIL), and phase-mask interference lithography (PMIL). The key technical requirement of this polymer template-assisted ALD is to perform the deposition process at a lower temperature, preserving the nanostructure of the polymer template during the deposition process. This review focuses on the successful cases of conformal deposition of inorganic thin films on 3D polymer nanonetworks using thermal ALD or plasma-enhanced ALD at temperatures below 200 °C. Recent applications and prospects of nanostructured polymer–inorganic composites or hollow inorganic materials are also discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atomic Layer Deposition for the Synthesis of Thin Films)
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