Flash-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition

Here is a recent review from ALD Lab Dresden - IHM, TU Dresden on Flash-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition (FEALD) with Open Access. The paper was presented at the Cancun, Mexico, Meeting of the Society, October 5–9, 2014. Thanks Henrik Pedersen for sharing this one!

The basic principle of Flash-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition according to ALD Lab Dresden.

Flash-Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition: Basics, Opportunities, Review, and Principal Studies on the Flash-Enhanced Growth of Thin Films (Open Access)

Thomas Henke, Martin Knaut, Christoph Hossbach, Marion Geidel, Lars Rebohle, Matthias Albert, Wolfgang Skorupa and Johann W. Bartha

ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol.2015 volume 4, issue 7,P277-P287

This was Paper 1616 presented at the Cancun, Mexico, Meeting of the Society, October 5–9, 2014.

Within this work, flash lamp annealing (FLA) is utilized to thermally enhance the film growth in atomic layer deposition (ALD). First, the basic principles of this flash-enhanced ALD (FEALD) are presented in detail, the technology is reviewed and classified. Thereafter, results of our studies on the FEALD of aluminum-based and ruthenium thin films are presented. These depositions were realized by periodically flashing on a substrate during the precursor exposure. In both cases, the film growth is induced by the flash heating and the processes exhibit typical ALD characteristics such as layer-by-layer growth and growth rates smaller than one Å/cycle. The obtained relations between process parameters and film growth parameters are discussed with the main focus on the impact of the FLA-caused temperature profile on the film growth. Similar, substrate-dependent growth rates are attributed to the different optical characteristics of the applied substrates. Regarding the ruthenium deposition, a single-source process was realized. It was also successfully applied to significantly enhance the nucleation behavior in order to overcome substrate-inhibited film growth. Besides, this work addresses technical challenges for the practical realization of this film deposition method and demonstrates the potential of this technology to extend the capabilities of thermal ALD.