ALD is the fastest growing thin film equipment technology

According to a recent market report released by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) represents the fastest growing equipment category driven by increasing adoption in the production of advanced semiconductor solutions for use in new generation electronic gadgets such as mobile phones, smartphones, PDAs, DVD players, portable media players, video games, home-theater systems, microwaves, and printers, among others.

Full report can be accessed here (for $4950): http://www.strategyr.com/MarketResearch/Thin_Layer_Deposition_Equipment_Market_Trends.asp

Key players covered in the report include AIXTRON SE, Applied Materials Inc., ASM International N.V., Canon ANELVA Corporation, CHA Industries Inc., CVD Equipment Corporation, Denton Vacuum LLC, Edwards Limited, Ionbond AG, Jusung Engineering Co. Ltd., KDF Electronic & Vacuum Services Inc., Kokusai Semiconductor Equipment Corporation, Lam Research Corporation, RIBER SA, Seki Diamond Systems, Silicon Genesis Corporation, SPTS Technologies, Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation, Ti-Coating Inc., Tokyo Electron Limited, ULVAC Technologies Inc., Vapor Technologies Inc. and Veeco Instruments Inc.

Novel High k Applications Workshop 2015 by NaMLab

Similar to the last years, NaMLab invites to the Novel High-k Application Workshop on March 10th, 2015. New challenges offered by the application of high-k dielectric materials in micro– and nanoelectronics will be discussed by more than 80 participants from industry, research institutes and universities. NaMLab created with the workshop a stimulating European platform for application-oriented scientist to exchange ideas and discuss latest experimental results on MIM-capacitors, process technology, leakage & reliability as well as characterization of high-k dielectrics integrated in silicon based micro– and nanoelectronics. 

 

 

Registration:
Groups: http://de.amiando.com/ZXEIICS
Single persons: http://de.amiando.com/JRUKCCB

Location:
Faculty of Computer Science - Technical University of Dresden -
Noethnitzer Strasse 46
check: Google Maps for location

http://www.namlab.com/news/events-1/high-k-applications-workshop-2015
 

 

Sponsors:

     

 

University of Manchester slim down LEDs using atom thick materials

Ultrathin, flexible and semi-transparent LEDs made from a mix of different atom thick materials have been created by researchers in the UK and Japan. Beyond their scientific importance, the researchers believe the design could have significant commercial potential. Other researchers agree, but says that a suitable method for producing the devices is still needed.

 

Since graphene's remarkable electrical properties were discovered, other monolayer materials followed whose electrical properties are often very different. While graphene is an excellent conductor, boron nitride is an insulator and some transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDCs) monolayers are semiconductors. Several research groups have developed simple van der Waals heterostructures, such as tunnelling transistors, by combining multiple layers. Now Konstantin Novoselov, who shared the 2010 physics Nobel prize with Andre Geim for their discovery of graphene, and colleagues at the University of Manchester, have produced LEDs using the most complex monolayer heterostructures ever created.

 

Full story in Chemistry World: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/02/led-slim-down-atom-thick-materials

Light-emitting diodes by band-structure engineering in van der Waals heterostructures
F. Withers, O. Del Pozo-Zamudio, A. Mishchenko, A. P. Rooney, A. Gholinia, K. Watanabe, T. Taniguchi, S. J. Haigh, A. K. Geim, A. I. Tartakovskii & K. S. Novoselov
Nature Materials(2015) doi:10.1038/nmat4205 Published online 02 February 2015 

The advent of graphene and related 2D materials, has recently led to a new technology: heterostructures based on these atomically thin crystals. The paradigm proved itself extremely versatile and led to rapid demonstration of tunnelling diodes with negative differential resistance, tunnelling transistors, photovoltaic devices, and so on. Here, we take the complexity and functionality of such van der Waals heterostructures to the next level by introducing quantum wells (QWs) engineered with one atomic plane precision. We describe light-emitting diodes (LEDs) made by stacking metallic graphene, insulating hexagonal ​boron nitride and various semiconducting monolayers into complex but carefully designed sequences. Our first devices already exhibit an extrinsic quantum efficiency of nearly 10% and the emission can be tuned over a wide range of frequencies by appropriately choosing and combining 2D semiconductors (monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides). By preparing the heterostructures on elastic and transparent substrates, we show that they can also provide the basis for flexible and semi-transparent electronics. The range of functionalities for the demonstrated heterostructures is expected to grow further on increasing the number of available 2D crystals and improving their electronic quality.

Rare Earths Elements in High-Tech Industries: Market Analysis and Forecasts amid China's Trade Embargo

Rare earth elements are used in CMP polishing slurries and as high-k dielectrics in the semiconductor industry. . Prices of ceria, used in STI planarization slurries, have increased 1300% between 2009 and 2010 because of an embargo by China, home to 97% of the rare earth mines. This report analyzes the impact of the embargo on high-tech industries such as semiconductors, HDDs, LCDs, consumer products, and green technology.

Manufacturers of a broad spectrum of high-tech products have been feeling the impact of price hikes in rare earth element-based processing materials because of the Chinese embargo in late 2010. China, which accounts for 90 percent of global rare earth supplies, has been tightening trade in the strategic metals since late 2010, resulting in an explosion in prices.

Japan accounts for a third of global demand and has been looking to diversify its supply sources, particularly of heavy rare earths such as dysprosium used in magnets.

In semiconductor manufacturing, rare earth materials are used as high-k dielectric films and as polishing materials in CMP. Prices of ceria, used in STI planarization slurries, increased 1300% a few years ago.

Ceria is also used in the polishing of glass disks for hard disk drives (HDDs), LCD panels, and high brightness LEDs (HBLEDs).

Europium is a rare earth used as a phosphor in Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFL) used in backlights for notebooks and in PDP TVs. Price hikes of 170% in the a few years ago for Europium filtered down the supply chain to manufacturers of these end products.

Neodymium is a rare earth element used in magnets for HDDs, wind turbines, and hybrid electric vehicles. Neodymium is already in short supply, and prices have increase 420%.

According to the report, China can supply rare earth products as pure as 99.9999%, while French companies can only produce 99.999% pure products and Japanese firms generally produce 99.9% purity products. With a supply chain of raw material and refining prowess, this is a wake-up call for non-Chinese mining operations, governments, and corporations to take proactive steps to get out of the stranglehold China has on the rest of the world.

A $14 billion market in 2017.

Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p02244733-summary/view-report.html

At 7nm Silicon giving way to Ge, III-IV, CNT and Graphene

In 1950s, when industry has moved from vacuum-tube diodes and triodes to solid-state diodes and transistors, electronics device researchers have selected Germanium as their semiconductor material. Early solid state diodes and bipolar junction transistors were made using Germanium material. But quickly Germanium replaced with silicon. In today's complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) digital integrated circuits, silicon is used near 100%. Now with the geometries of MOSFET shrinking further down the 14/10 nm, the performance of silicon as MOSFET channel material is questionable, with limitations in frequency of switching, and even the switch itself is erroneously operating. Well the future can be called post-silicon era, where the industry is moving from microelectronics to nanoelectronics/photonics.

IBM said in one of its release "Their (latest Si chips) increasingly small dimensions, now reaching the nanoscale, will prohibit any gains in performance due to the nature of Silicon and the laws of physics. Within a few more generations, classical scaling and shrinkage will no longer yield the sizable benefits of lower power, lower cost and higher speed processors that the industry has become accustomed to."

In the immediate future, the transition into <7nm is basically moving into non-Silicon CMOS switching, EUV lithography and increased on-chip photonics, a combination of control of electrons and photon flow in single integrated device. The 3D growth of structures will be more prominent.

Full article: At 7nm Silicon giving way to Ge, III-IV, CNT and Graphene : http://www.eeherald.com/section/news/onws20150111001a.html

40 years of atomic layer deposition

[From Materials Views] Forty years ago, Dr. Tuomo Suntola and his group demonstrated the growth of ZnS thin films in alternating, saturating gas-solid reactions. This initiated the development of atomic layer deposition (ALD) in Finland and gradually led to industrial and academic activities worldwide. Riikka L. Puurunen VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has now written an essay covering this invention, as well as the developments that preceded and followed it, in Chemical Vapor Deposition. 

The ALE essay is part of the “40 Years of ALD in Finland: Photos, Stories” (FinALD40) exhibition organised by the Academy of Finland’s Centre of Excellence in Atomic Layer Deposition (ALDCoE), with Dr. Puurunen and Dr. Jaakko Niinistö (University of Helsinki, UH) as the main organisers. The exhibition material also describes how ALD research was initiated at Helsinki University of Technology (HUT, currently Aalto University) and at UH, contains photographs from over the years, lists Finnish academic theses related to ALD as well as organisations currently active with ALD in Finland, and contains stories on precursor development at HUT, an obituary, and a story of the successful ZyALD™ precursor.

The image is a reconstruction of the very first ALE-ALD experiment (made by Riikka Puurunen, in collaboration with Suntola).

The FinALD40 exhibition material was released in the internet on November 29, 2014, exactly forty years after filing the first ALE patent. The internet edition contains a preface written by Prof. Markku Leskelä (UH) and a reconstruction of the very first ALE experiment as the cover image. The material can be accessed through the ALDCoE webpages at http://www.aldcoe.fi/events/finald40.html and through the webpage of the Virtual Project on the History of ALD (VPHA), http://www.vph-ald.com.

Levitech BV sells two Levitrack ALD systems to Japanese high-performance solar cell manufacturer

As reported by Levitech BV, a leading supplier of advanced process equipment for the manufacturing of solar cells, announced today that it has sold two Levitrack Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) systems to Japan, the first multiple system order for ALD equipment in the world. A major multinational, which includes solar cell manufacturing among its many concerns, will use the Levitracks for high-volume production and the development of next-generation, high-efficiency crystalline solar cells.

“The further success of the Levitrack, with two being sold to a prestigious client, is confirmation that our mass production solutions for fast ALD deposition deliver the right product to meet the needs of mass-production manufacturers”, stated Jaap Beijersbergen, CEO of Levitech. “The system will be used for PERC cells - with efficiencies exceeding 20 per cent - as well as multi-crystalline and n-type products.”

Since its introduction in 2010, the Levitrack has consistently demonstrated its advanced passivation capabilities at world-leading manufacturers and institutes in both Europe and Asia.
“We know that aluminum oxide film provides excellent cell passivation and increased cell efficiencies, especially when deposited in uniform and dense layers, a particular feature of the ALD technique. In the Levitrack these qualities are combined with an efficient and effective platform for delivery,” said Beijersbergen.

“This customer chose the Levitrack system based on its significant productivity, cost-of- ownership and process advantages over competitive PECVD and other ALD systems for aluminum oxide (Al2O3) applications.”

Hanwha Q Cells to evaluate SoLayTec InPassion technology

Dutch research spinoff SoLayTec has announced that Hanwha Q Cells has begun evaluating its atomic layer deposition (ALD) technology. The InPassion ALD can be deployed for PERC upgrades and n-type cell production.

“Last month in November SoLayTec announced it sold its first production machine in the U.S. for a 100MW n-type bi-facial cell line. Now also Hanwha Q CELLS decided to start the evaluation of the InPassion ALD system from SoLayTec for its high efficiency cell concepts in Thalheim (Germany).”

SoLayTec’s Görtzen says that the company’s goal is to demonstrate that the InPassion ALD process has a higher potential than the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) approach.

“The biggest advantages of our spatial ALD tool compared to PECVD are a better step coverage, a stable uniformity and a layer thickness requirement of only 5 nm Al2O3,” said Görtzen. “Furthermore, if in the ALD cell process flow a direct PECVD is used for the SiN capping layer an integrated annealing process can be implemented, resulting in better cell performance compared to PECVD AlOx.”

Read more: http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/hanwha-q-cells-to-evaluate-solaytec-inpassion-technology_100017741/#ixzz3OmOeCWkJ

ALD ZrO2 protects Photonic crystal nanolaser biosensor for DNA detection

As reported by AIP.org : A simple method to sense DNA, as well as potential biomarker proteins of cancer or other diseases such as Alzheimer's, may soon be within reach thanks to the work of a team of Yokohama National Univ. researchers in Japan.

As the team reports in Applied Physics Letters, they created a photonic crystal nanolaser biosensor capable of detecting the adsorption of biomolecules based on the laser's wavelength shift.

Equally impressive, the nanolaser biosensor enables detection of the surface charge from its laser emission intensity, which in turn can also be used to sense the adsorption of biomolecules. Using laser intensity to detect biomolecules is potentially less expensive than the fluorescent tagging or spectroscopy techniques typically used in biosensors because it is a simpler procedure.

When the team first set out to explore photonic crystal nanolaser sensors, they weren't focusing on the intensity of the laser emission because it's sensitive to the quality of the fabricated laser and, frankly, they didn't expect it to show sensing signals.

"In the beginning we focused on wavelength behavior, but quickly noticed that [the laser emission] intensity is influenced by both pH and polymers," noted Toshihiko Baba, a professor in Yokohama National Univ.'s Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "Our results were very reproducible and, interestingly, we found that the behaviors of the wavelength and intensity are independent." 

The team was surprised by these results, which they discovered when they deposited a protective film of thin zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) over the device using atomic layer deposition, and then tried sensing in liquids of high or low pH and liquids containing charged polymers. The coating was necessary to protect the nanolaser from damage and unwanted wavelength drift.

The nanolaser device can sense surface charge because the surface charge changes the occupancy rate of electrons at the surface states in the semiconductor of the nanolaser, Baba explained. "This modifies the semiconductor's emission efficiency." 

Full story: http://www.rdmag.com/news/2015/01/photonic-crystal-nanolaser-biosensor-simplifies-dna-detection

Simultaneous detection of refractive index and surface charges in nanolaser biosensors

Keisuke Watanabe, Yoji Kishi, Shoji Hachuda, Takumi Watanabe, Mai Sakemoto, Yoshiaki Nishijima and Toshihiko Baba

Appl. Phys. Lett. 106, 021106 (2015)

Abstract:

The emission intensity of a GaInAsP photonic crystal nanolaser is affected by the pH of the solution, in which the nanolaser is immersed. This phenomenon can be explained by the change in the redox potential, which modifies the filling of electrons at surface states of the semiconductor and hence the nonradiative surface recombination. This phenomenon allows the nanolaser to simultaneously and independently detect the refractive index and electric charges near the surface on the basis of the variation in emission wavelength and intensity, respectively. This paper demonstrates this function through alternate deposition of charged polyelectrolytes and hybridization of deoxyribonucleic acids.

New Savannah G2 Atomic Layer Deposition System Launched by Ultratech Cambridge NanoTech

Ultratech, Inc., a leading supplier of ALD systems, as well as lithography, laser-processing and inspection systems used to manufacture semiconductor devices and high-brightness LEDs (HB-LEDs), today introduced the Ultratech Cambridge NanoTech Savannah G2 atomic layer deposition (ALD) system. Since its introduction in 2004, the Savannah product line has become the industry-leading commercial ALD system used for research and development activities.

The Savannah G2 platform incorporates a wide range of advanced field-upgradable options intended to aid serious researchers in expanding their portfolio of available ALD films, as well as allow them to characterize the films in real time. Among the Savannah G2's array of options, a unique low vapor precursor delivery system has been developed to enable the growth of novel materials including single- and multi-component films from Perovskite, Yttrium, Lithium, and the rare earth families. Additional options such as ellipsometry, Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM), and mass spectrometry allow for the simultaneous growth of ALD films and the real-time characterization of the deposition process, all of which are indispensible capabilities for process development and optimization activities.

Ultratech Cambridge NanoTech Vice President of Research and Engineering Ganesh Sundaram noted, "With 400 ALD systems in the field, Ultratech Cambridge NanoTech's tools have been used in over 800 published papers in peer-reviewed journals. As a result, universities and government institutions, as well as corporate research and development centers, are using our ALD systems to break ground on some of the most interesting applications for thin film use. Today, the Savannah G2 system represents a highly extendable ALD platform, engineered to meet the needs of both routine and extremely challenging ALD thin-film research and development for today's and tomorrow's requirements."

Picosun Enables ALD Production on Powders

Picosun Oy, the leading provider of high quality Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) equipment and solutions for global industries, now offers ALD systems for production-scale coating of powders.

Picosun's large scale POCA™ 300 powder cartridge is designed to fit the industry-standard PICOSUN™ P-300 reactor frame. Its patented construction is based on Picosun's successful R&D scale POCA™ 200 powder coating system with which top quality ALD coatings have been manufactured on several types of powderous carriers. These coatings enable applications such as functionalization of catalysts, solid state batteries, and light-emitting phosphors. The POCA™ 300 system is equipped with Picosun's innovative Picovibe™ feature, ensuring highly uniform and conformal ALD film formation around every single particle in the batch.

"ALD opens up new possibilities for next generation material manufacturing in e.g. energy storage, catalyst, pharmacological, and lighting industries. Our POCA™ 300 large scale powder coating system with the Picovibe™ feature meets the ever-increasing demand for efficient particle ALD processing from several of our production customers in various fields of industry," states Juhana Kostamo, Managing Director of Picosun.

Picosun provides the most advanced ALD thin film technology and enables the industrial leap into the future by novel, cutting-edge coating solutions, with four decades of continuous expertise in the field. Today, PICOSUN™ ALD systems are in daily production use in numerous major industries around the world. Picosun is based in Finland, with subsidiaries in USA, China, and Singapore, and a world-wide sales and support network.

Atomic Layer Lithography - Creation of nanogaps by ALD

A team led by Sang-Hyun Oh of the University of Minnesota is now saying that it has produced SEIRA (surface-enhanced infrared absorption) enhancements as high as 105 for nanogaps just 3 nm across arranged in a dense array of millimetre-long hotspots.

“In our scheme, we create the nanogaps by depositing thin layers of aluminium oxide on the sidewalls of metal patterns using a well known technique called atomic layer deposition,” Oh tells nanotechweb.org. “We can use this technique to control the thickness of the film, which then defines the gap width on the Angstrom scale. And since thin-film deposition is a fast batch process, we can also make dense arrays of nanogaps over an entire wafer in a quick and easy way.”

The researchers use standard photolithography to pattern gold films on a 4 inch silicon wafer. These patterns are conformally encapsulated with a thin alumina spacer using atomic layer deposition (ALD). Next, a silver film is deposited conformally on the pattern, and the whole structure is stripped off from the silicon substrate using UV cured epoxy and a glass slide. f) Cross-sectional schematic of a buried nanocavity. g) Contact mode AFM line scan across a 5 nm nanogap cavity showing a height difference between the gold and silver films due to the 5 nm thick Al2O3 film. h) Photograph of a 4 inch wafer-containing metal stripes after lift-off. Each square is approximately 1.5 by 1.5 mm. i) SEM image of an array of buried nanogaps on a chip. Further zoomed-in images show a single cavity and a 5 nm nanogap on one side of the cavity. j and k) SEM of buried disks and wedges. Pictures from: Nano Lett.

Intel shows porous silicon 3.5 mF/cm2 super caps using ALD TiN

As reported by Chip Works Blog: For those interested in energy storage, Intel have fabricated porous silicon capacitors (8.2) that can potentially be integrated on-die or onto solar cells, taking advantage of the extreme conformal deposition capabilities of atomic-layer deposition (ALD). The image below shows a top-down view of the porous silicon before and after ALD TiN deposition; the wall of the pore walls get thicker, but the pore structure doesn’t change. Capacitances of up to 3 milliFarads/cm2 are claimed.

IEDM: http://www.his.com/~iedm/program/program.html
Session 8: Sensors, MEMS, and BioMEMS– NEMS and Energy Harvesters
Monday, December 15, 1:30 p.m.
Imperial Ballroom B
Co-Chairs: Rainer Minixhofer, AMS
Kea-Tiong Tang, National Tsing Hua University
2:00 p.m.
8.2 Integrated On-Chip Energy Storage Using Porous-Silicon Electrochemical Capacitors, D.S. Gardner, C.W. Holzwarth, Y. Liu, S.B. Clendenning, W. Jin, B.K. Moon, C.L. Pint, Z. Chen, E. Hannah, R. Chen, C.P. Wang, C. Chen*, E. Mäkilä**, and J.L. Gustafson, Intel Corp., *Florida Int'l Univ., **University of Turku
Capacitors are favored over batteries for energy harvesting and certain energy storage applications. Electrochemical capacitors based on porous-silicon nano¬structures were synthesized and passivated using either ALD TiN or CVD carbon. Highly stable high density capacitances are achieved and are fabricated using silicon process methods with the potential of on-die integration.

sprayLD - New technique offers spray-on solar power

Dr. Illan Kramer of The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and IBM has invented a new way to spray solar cells onto flexible surfaces using miniscule light-sensitive materials known as colloidal quantum dots (CQDs)—a major step toward making spray-on solar cells easy and cheap to manufacture.

Efficient Spray-Coated Colloidal Quantum Dot Solar Cells

Kramer, I. J., Minor, J. C., Moreno-Bautista, G., Rollny, L., Kanjanaboos, P., Kopilovic, D., Thon, S. M., Carey, G. H., Chou, K. W., Zhitomirsky, D., Amassian, A. and Sargent, E. H. (2014), Efficient 

Spray-Coated Colloidal Quantum Dot Solar Cells. Adv. Mater.. doi: 10.1002/adma.201403281

A colloidal quantum dot solar cell is fabricated by spray coating under ambient conditions. By developing a room temperature spray coating technique and implementing a fully automated process with near monolayer control—an approach termed as sprayLD—an electronic defect is eliminated resulting in solar cell performance and statistical distribution superior to prior batch-processed methods along with hero performance of 8.1%.

Altatech introduces new Fast ALD Technology

As reported by Soitec - Altatech : Altatech, a division of Soitec, has introduced the AltaCVD 3D Memory Cell(TM), a new member of its AltaCVD product line designed to deposit ultra-thin semiconductor films that enable the manufacturing of high-density, low-power memory ICs used throughout mobile electronics. The new system performs atomic-layer deposition 10 times faster than conventional ALDsystems, helping to meet global market demands for both high-volume production and cost efficiency in fabricating advanced memories.

"The performance of today's pervasive mobile devices, which many of us now take for granted, would not be possible without atomic-layer deposition technology, such as enabled by our newest CVD solution," said Jean-Luc Delcarri, general manager of Soitec's Altatech Division.

As the global semiconductor industry turns to 3D device architectures to increase memory capacity and boost IC performance for mobile applications, advanced material deposition is needed to create atomic-layer films with high uniformity and stoichiometry control. Altatech's AltaCVD 3D Memory Cell can deposit the needed layers of chalcogenide materials by using a combination of precursors.

In addition to working with conventional gaseous or solid precursors, Altatech's new tool uses patented pulsed technology to take advantage of advanced CVD precursors that are available only in liquid form. This versatility allows the system to achieve exceptional step coverage over features with very high aspect ratios, a key performance requirement in creating the vertical integration that enables high-density memory circuits.

The AltaCVD 3D Memory Cell also can perform advanced pre-treatment of semiconductor surfaces to improve circuit functionality as well as post-treatment of surfaces to enhance memory cells' electrical performance.

Designed to process 200-mm or 300-mm substrates, the AltaCVD 3D Memory Cell uses a single-wafer, multi-chamber architecture to deliver both single-wafer process control and volume-manufacturing capability.

The system is currently demonstrating its unique capabilities and performance at one of Altatech's key customers and production units are available.