ASMi to host Technology Seminar at IEDM with Dina Triyoso from Globalfoundries

ASM International, the leading supplier of ALD deposition tools for leading edge Logic and Memory technologies is as usual hosting a Technology Lunch Seminar at IEDM that is taking place this week in Washington. This time they have invited Dina Triyoso from Globalfoundries to give a talk on

'Architectural choices and material challenges for future electronics'. Dina has a very strong background in ALD, High-k/Metal Gate, MIM capacitors and ALD for spacer technologies so this will certainly be a fantastic opportunity to learn about the latest from a true expert in the field.

ASM International N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) today announces that it will host a technical luncheon seminar in Washington DC, US, on Wednesday, December 9, 2015, the third day of the IEDM Conference.

In this technology seminar, ASM and a distinguished keynote speaker will highlight the challenges and potential solutions for achieving next generation 3D devices.

The agenda is as follows:

11:30 am Food and drinks
12:10-12:20 pm Ivo Raaijmakers (ASM) - Welcome and introduction
12:20-12:50 pm Dina Triyoso (GLOBALFOUNDRIES) -
'Architectural choices and material challenges for future electronics '

Following the presentations, there is an opportunity for open discussion and networking until 1:15 pm.

The ASM technology seminar will take place in the Kalorama room at the Churchill Hotel (across from the Hilton Washington), 1914 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington DC 20009, US. The room will open at 11:30 am for invited attendees. Interested parties should contact Rosanne de Vries, +31 88 100 8569, rosanne.de.vries@asm.com.

Source: http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2015-12/35815943-asm-international-nv-asm-international-n-v-to-host-technology-seminar-399.htm

Ultralight shape-recovering plate mechanical ALD metamaterials

Here is an Ultracool ALD application for creating Ultralight shape-recovering plate mechanical  metamaterials from University of Pennsylvania. Check out the paper and the Youtube video below. 

Sequential images of a structure with the ALD layer thickness of ~25 nm inside an FIB while being manipulated using a micromanipulator. (Nature Communications 6, Article number:10019 doi:10.1038/ncomms1001)

All details on the fabrication method can be found in the supplementary information document with free access: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/151203/ncomms10019/extref/ncomms10019-s1.pdf

And the paper itself is OPEN ACCESS !

Fabrication method of the periodic three-dimensional architecture of the mechanical metamaterial as described in the supplementary information document (Nature Communications 6, Article number:10019 doi:10.1038/ncomms1001)

Ultralight shape-recovering plate mechanical metamaterials

Keivan Davami, Lin Zhao, Eric Lu, John Cortes, Chen Lin, Drew E. Lilley, Prashant K. Purohit & Igor Bargatin

Nature Communications 6, Article number:10019 doi:10.1038/ncomms10019 Published 03 December 2015 

Unusual mechanical properties of mechanical metamaterials are determined by their carefully designed and tightly controlled geometry at the macro- or nanoscale. We introduce a class of nanoscale mechanical metamaterials created by forming continuous corrugated plates out of ultrathin films. Using a periodic three-dimensional architecture characteristic of mechanical metamaterials, we fabricate free-standing plates up to 2 cm in size out of aluminium oxide films as thin as 25 nm. The plates are formed by atomic layer deposition of ultrathin alumina films on a lithographically patterned silicon wafer, followed by complete removal of the silicon substrate. Unlike unpatterned ultrathin films, which tend to warp or even roll up because of residual stress gradients, our plate metamaterials can be engineered to be extremely flat. They weigh as little as 0.1 g cm⁻² and have the ability to ‘pop-back’ to their original shape without damage even after undergoing multiple sharp bends of more than 90°.

NEWS FLASH! The Babylonians to suit Apple for use of rounded corners

NEWS FLASH! The Babylonians to suit Apple for use of rounded corners

The Plimpton 322 tablet is a Babylonian clay tablet, written in cuneiform, from around 1,800 BC (now held at Columbia University). The tablet contains four columns of numbers, written in base 60 (a system that survives in our hours, minutes, and seconds):

The Babylonian Clay Tablet Plimpton 322 before Iphone & Ipad 1,800 BC.

A close up of a rounded corner.

Russian Comberry is offering Combinatorial ALD development from Intermolecular HPC platform

Comberry, a Russian based joint venture with Intermolecular that started in 2013 is offering combinatorial materials development on one of the coolest ALD tools ever built - The Tempus AP-30 Vacuum Cluster. This tool is part of a large HPC platform including also PVD, CVD and wet chemistry.

Tempus® AP-30 Vacuum Cluster Module

This is the main module that utilizes wafers up to 300 mm in diameter. It is equipped with several (up to 5) ALD and PVD chambers as well as pre-clean and degassing modules and allows for fast deposition of various, isolated, thin-film samples by ALD and PVD methods without interrupting vacuum between technological processes.

 

Vacuum cluster module Tempus® AP-30

Comberry promotional video in Russian with English subtitles.

Comberry (Comberry, LLC), a Technology Company

 Comberry was established, by the Nanocenters of Dubna, Ulyanovsk and Saransk jointly with Intermolecular Inc., in October 2013 Intermolecular, Inc.

Product:

- applied research in the field of multifunctional thin-film coatings for various materials.

Comberry mission: to provide innovative Russian companies with technological development capabilities, poised to allow them to become successful producers of high-tech products.

Joint development projects make it possible for Comberry’s customers to increase the efficiency of applied research and create large numbers of intellectual property objects while reducing the time to market for new products

First stage projects:

• Transparent Conductive Oxides
  
• Electrochromic devices
• Flexible, thin-film, copper-indium-gallium selenide solar cells (CIGS)

Samsung is using an ALD Al2O3 gate dielectric for 3D V-NAND

Samsung seems to be using an ALD Al2O3 gate dielectric with a TiN/W Metal Gate according to Dick James at Chipworks who recently reported on the matter in front of IEDM 2015 (http://electroiq.com/chipworks_real_chips_blog/2015/12/02/a-look-ahead-at-iedm-2015/).

"Samsung started shipping their V-NAND last year, but that uses charge-trap storage, in which the electrons that make up the memory bits sit on a silicon nitride layer; the Intel/Micron device uses the conventional floating-gate method used in planar flash, where the electrons are stored on a polysilicon floating gate. It’ll be interesting to see the difference!"

 

Plan-view TEM images of Samsung V-NAND flash array (Chipworks) 

Looking at the rest of the stack one want to believe that also the TiN, SiO2 and SiN is deposited by ALD. However, knowing that those materials can successfully be deposited in a LPCVD or pulsed LPCVD process it can just as well be done in Large Batch furnaces from any of the companies ASM, Kokusai or Tokyo Electron. Those furnaces are for sure also capable of running the processes in a pure ALD mode though.

Below is a principal cross section of the first couple of cells in the Samsungs 3D NAND  from

Samsung SSD 850 Pro (128GB, 256GB & 1TB) Review: Enter the 3D Era by Kristian Vättö"

 

"NAND scaling in vertical dimension does not have the same limitations as scaling in the X and Y axes do. Because the cost of a semiconductor is still mostly determined by the die area and not by the height, there is no need to cram cells very close to each other. As a result, there is very little interference between the cells even in the vertical direction. Also, the usage of high-k dielectrics means that the control gate does not have to wrap around the charge trap. The result is that there is a hefty barrier of silicon dioxide (which is an insulator) between each cell, which is far more insulating than the rather thin ONO layer in 2D NAND."

Picosun & ALD - Enabling Future Industries

Here is a new Winter issue of the Picosun magazine covering the latest developments in this ever expanding ALD company from Finland - Born in Kirkkonummi, Born to ALD and as you know Santa comes from Finland and that´s why there are only stone hard gifts for Christmas.

In this issue:
• PICOPLATFORM™ vacuum cluster tools solidify their presence in industrial
ALD market
• Picosun provides batch ALD technology for medical and aerospace electronics
• PICOPLASMA™ technology paves the way for future microelectronics
• Picosun hires new professionals to lead foreign operations

Customer interviews:
• Prof. Paul R. Berger, USA
• Dr. Peter King, United Kingdom
• Dr. Kaushal Vora and Dr. Fouad Karouta, Australia

 

Meaglow - Optimum Plasma Source to Substrate Distance

Here is a recent white paper from Meaglow on plasma source substrate distance optimization.

What is the optimum distance to the substrate?

This question is frequently asked by Meaglow customers. The short answer is: if you’re replacing an existing ICP source with a Meaglow hollow cathode, then using the same distance will be appropriate. Using the same distance will give you results that will allow you to compare the advantages of your hollow cathode source. The same operating conditions can be used, though there may be changes in the growth per cycle, and improvement in the quality of the material - the extent of which will be material dependent. The long answer is: the optimum distance is dependent on a number of variables. Plasma gas type, the material being deposited, the metalorganics used, the gas pressure, the power  applied to the plasma source and the flow rate from the plasma  source, all interact to determine this value. Some guidelines can be provided. Generally there are two  overriding considerations: delivery of a high flux of active species  to enhance growth rate, versus the damage that the material being deposited can sustain.

Download the White paper here : http://www.meaglow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Optimum-substrate-plasma-source-distance.pdf

Improved Corrosion Resistance of CrN Hard Coatings with an ALD Al2O3 Interlayer

As mentioned in the previous post  - Han-Bo-Ram Lee research group at the Nanomaterials Laboratory of  Incheon National University Korea has a nice blog/news service where they publish all recent results on regular basis.

http://nanomaterial.kr/

Here I found this paper on using ALD interlayers for CrN corrosion protection coatings

[Paper]Improved Corrosion Resistance and Mechanical Properties of CrN Hard Coatings with an Atomic Layer Deposited Al2O3 Interlayer

Zhixin Wan, Teng Fei Zhang, Han-Bo-Ram Lee, Ji Hoon Yang, Woo Chang Choi, Byungchan Han, Kwang Ho Kim,and Se-Hun Kwon

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, Article ASAP
DOI: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acsami.5b08696

Abstract

A new approach was adopted to improve the corrosion resistance of CrN hard coatings by inserting a Al2O3 layer through atomic layer deposition. The influence of the addition of a Al2O3 interlayer, its thickness, and the position of its insertion on the microstructure, surface roughness, corrosion behavior, and mechanical properties of the coatings was investigated. The results indicated that addition of a dense atomic layer deposited Al2O3 interlayer led to a significant decrease in the average grain size and surface roughness and to greatly improved corrosion resistance and corrosion durability of CrN coatings while maintaining their mechanical properties. Increasing the thickness of the Al2O3 interlayer and altering its insertion position so that it was near the surface of the coating also resulted in superior performance of the coating. The mechanism of this effect can be explained by the dense Al2O3 interlayer acting as a good sealing layer that inhibits charge transfer, diffusion of corrosive substances, and dislocation motion.

2X Korean ALD News Blogs from CN1 and Incheon National University

So today I was reading some papers and found an interesting one on selective Co CVD using the market leading precursor CoCOCp [CoCp(CO)₂]. The paper was recently published by a Korean research group at Incheon National University and as usual I went digging up the facts what hardware was being used and then I find this Korean ALD equipment compoany CN1 that I have scouted before. Anyway, they have updated their web and have a nice news blog and especially nice to find that they sometimes link to my blogs.

Check it out, there are mixed news in English and Korean.: http://www.cn-1.co.kr/about-us/news/

 

Atomic Premium  - Showerhead type Plasma-Enhanced ALD (PE-ALD) cluster tool from CN1

...and by the way here is that Co paper - Open Source - and the Nanomaterials Lab of Incheon National University  also have a News Blog : http://nanomaterial.kr/

ALD History Blog: List of ALD reviews

ALD History Blog: Another page under construction: List of ALD revie...: A list of scientific reviews (including books) on ALD is now under construction as a separate page in the ALD History Blog: http://aldhistory.blogspot.fi/p/list-of-reviews.html.

This initial list, started December 3, 2015, contains the list of reviews collected for my (Puurunen's)  review articles in J. Appl. Phys. 2005 and 2013, with some items added for years 2012 on.

The Colors of Reliability - The ALD Displays from Finland

Lumineq^® Displays, a business unit of Beneq, a manufacturer and developer of thin film electroluminescent (TFEL) displays. Lumineq TFEL non-transparent displays are used in mining, marine, military, medical and many more demanding environments. TFEL displays are robust and reliable, and usually used in extreme environments, where traditional displays cannot cope with the conditions.

 

The black and yellow colors are inherent for thin film electroluminescent displays because of the technology (a ZnS:Mn phospor layer is the most efficient and its emissions are seen as yellow by the human eye), but we have been told that they are sometimes copied in demos of other display technologies to represent reliability. So strong is the mental connection between these colors and robustness for those in the business.

 

Read mor at the Beneq Blog : http://www.beneq.com/colors-of-reliability

Samsung to present low cost manufacturing of 20 nm DRAM and beyond at IEDM2015

Some advancement in keeping low cost manufacturing of 20 nm DRAM will be presented by Samsung at IEDM 2015. Key elements are:

• avoiding EUV lithography
• honeycomb structure (see figure below)
• air-spacer technology

According to Solid State Technology an air-gap spacer arrangement achieves a 34% reduction in bitline capacitance for faster operation.

20nm DRAM: A New Beginning of Another Revolution (Invited), J. Park, Y.S. Hwang, S.-W. Kim, S.Y. Han, J.S. Park, J. Kim, J. W Seo, B.S. Kim, S.H. Shin, C.H. Cho, S.W. Nam, H.S. Hong, K.P. Lee, G.Y. Jin, and E.S. Jung, Samsung Electronics Co.

For the first time, 20nm DRAM has been developed and fabricated successfully without EUV lithography using the honeycomb structure and the air-spacer technology. These low-cost and reliable schemes are promising key technologies for 20nm technology node and beyond.

IBM TJ Watson Research to present an ALD Ge-Sb-Te Phase Change Material at IEDM 2015

IBM TJ Watson Research to present an ALD Ge-Sb-Te Phase Change Material at IEDM 2015.

Crystalline-as-Deposited ALD Phase Change Material Confined PCM Cell for High Density Storage Class Memory, M. BrightSky, N. Sosa, T. Masuda*, W. Kim, S. Kim, A. Ray,  R. Bruce, J. Gonsalves,  Y. Zhu, K. Suu*, and C. Lam, IBM TJ Watson Research, *ULVAC

We show a robust 4:1 aspect ratio 33nm diameter confined PCM cell which utilizes an in-situ metal nitride liner plus nano-crystalline-as-deposited ALD Ge-Sb-Te phase change material. We report a programming endurance of beyond 1E10, 80ns 10x switching, and a path towards a high density PCM suitable for Storage Class Memory.

Memory Technology PCRAM and Flash: http://ieee-iedm.org/session-3-circuit-device-integration-advanced-cmos-technology-platform/

Versum Materials - Air Products Materials Spin-Off set for growth

Here is an interview and video with Air Products soon-to-be chief executive, Guillermo Novo who will lead the spin-off Materials Divisioan of Air Products named Versum Materials.

Versum Materials will have an estimated global workforce of about 3,300 at 24 plants, including more than 500 employees locally.

 

 

"At $2.1 billion [in annual sales] we'll be one of the larger chemical-materials players in the industry. We're going to be one of the more profitable ones. So our goal has to be growth"

Says Guillermo Novo who has been with Air Products since 2012 previously with Rohm and Haas and later Dow Chemical Co.

When it comes to ALD and CVD, Air Products is very strong in silicon precursors and maybe not so much in high-k. It will be interesting to see if they will now put more effort in developing metal precursors for the fast growing market in metal ALD precursors like e.g. source/drain contacts, BEOL applications such barrier/seed, copper cap and alternatives metallization metals. For sure also another fast growing market is silicon precursors used for liners and spacer applications such as multiple patterning.

Check out the interview here: http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-air-products-executive-profile-20151129-story.html

Here is the original press release from Air Products about a month ago: http://www.airproducts.com/Company/news-center/2015/11/1105-versum-materials-is-selected-name-for-materials-technologies-business-spin-off-of-air-products.aspx

TSMC to present 16nm FinFET embedded HfO2 ReRAM at IEDM2015

According to Semconductor Engeneering, TSMC is to present a NVM 16nm FinFET embedded ReRAM at IEDM2015 using basically a standard ALD HfO2 High-k / Mettal Gate Stack. Assumingly, TSMC just run also here the standard ASM Pulsar HfCl4/H2O thermal ALD process like for the gate dielectric. The novel device integration is denoted FIND RRAM. Interesting here is a comparison with NVM 28nm Ferroelectric FeFET using also HfO2 in development by Globalfoundries, NaMLab, Fraunhofer and FMC, which is normally done using the ASM Pulsar process but has also been proven using other ALD Chambers and  precursors.Especially in the case of a 3D FRAM integration where typically HfCl4 is difficult. However, as far as I know these guys have yet not published a FinFET FeFET version, which should be pretty straightforward unless the rather thick HfO2 (6-10 nm) that is needed to get a ferroelectric phase of HfO2 proves difficult to integrate and especially pattern (dry etch or CMP).

ReRAM Gains Even More Steam. The prospect of using the latest in finFET processing to enable embedded non-volatile memory (NVM) will be described by a team from TSMC and Tsing Hua University in Taiwan at the IEDM meeting on Dec. 8 in Washington, D.C.

 

Fin in structured memory cell, from IEDM paper abstract. The fin consists of a multilayer sandwich of TiN/ HfO2/SiO2 with the finFET metal gate and epi SiP as the two electrodes.  

Here is some previous published material from EETimes Europe on this technology and the abstract below form the IEDM Memory RRAM session.

1Kbit FINFET Dielectric (FIND) RRAM in Pure 16nm FinFET CMOS Logic Process, H.-W. Pan, K.-P. Huang, S.-Y. Chen, P.-C. Peng, Z.-S. Yang, K.-H. Chen*, Y.-H. Kuo*, C.-P. Lin*, B.-Z. Tien*, T.-S. Chang*, C.-H. Kuo*, Y.-D. Chih*, Y.-C. King, and C.J. Lin, National Tsing Hua University, *Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company

A fully CMOS process compatible FinFET Dielectric RRAM (FIND RRAM) is firstly proposed and demonstrated by 1kbit RRAM macro on 16nm standard FinFET CMOS logic platform. The new 16nm low voltage FIND RRAM consists of one FinFET transistor for select gate and an HfO2-based resistive film for a storage node of the cell. The FIND RRAM largely improves the set and reset characteristics by the locally enhanced field at fin corners and results in a low set voltage and reset current in array operation. Besides, by adopting the 16nm FinFET CMOS logic process, the FIND RRAM is shrink to an aggressive cell size of 0.07632um2 without additional mask or process step. The low voltage operation, excellent reliability, and very stable LRS/HRS window are all realized in the new fabricated 1kbit macro. They all support the new FIND RRAM technology is a promising embedded NVM in the coming FinFET era.

As comparison, a TEM of FeFET processed in 28 nm high-k metal gate CMOS Technology (left) and 2D TCAD-model for device simulation (right). (Picture from NaMLab)

 

Report on flexible barriers including ALD Technologies and reviewing three ALD companies

Here is a new report on flexible barriers including ALD Technologies and reviewing three ALD companies:

• Lotus - Spatial ALD
• Beneq - Batch ALD
• Encapsulix - Fast ALD

Barrier Layers for Flexible Electronics 2016-2026: Technologies, Markets, Forecasts Encapsulation films, in-line deposition, ALD and flexible glass

Barrier layer market forecasts in US$ million

"A large opportunity lies in the development of devices in a flexible form factor that can operate without deterioration in performance, allowing them to be more robust, lightweight and versatile in their use. In order for flexible displays and photovoltaics to be commercially successful, they must be robust enough to survive for the necessary time and conditions required of the device. This condition has been a limitation of many flexible, organic or printable electronics. This highlights the fact that beyond flexibility, printability and functionality, one of the most important requirements is encapsulation as many of the materials used in printed or organic electronic displays are chemically sensitive, and will react with many environmental components such as oxygen and moisture. These materials can be protected using substrates and barriers such as glass and metal, but this results in a rigid device and does not satisfy the applications demanding flexible devices. Plastic substrates and transparent flexible encapsulation barriers can be used, but these offer little protection to oxygen and water, resulting in the devices rapidly degrading. In order to achieve device lifetimes of tens of thousands of hours, water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) must be 10-6 g/m2/day, and oxygen transmission rates (OTR) must be < 10-3 cm3/m2/day. For Organic Photovoltaics, the required WVTR is not as stringent as OLEDs require but is still very high at a level of 10-5 g/m2/day. These transmission rates are several orders of magnitude smaller than what is possible using any conventional plastic substrate, and they can also be several orders of magnitude smaller than what can be measured using common equipment designed for this purpose."

Read more at: http://www.idtechex.com/research/reports/barrier-layers-for-flexible-electronics-2016-2026-technologies-markets-forecasts-000455.asp

Barrier layer market forecasts in US$ million

The ALD Boom - ASM International is buying back 100 million EUR in shares

Not only is the Plasma ALD publications in 2015 booming, as reported yesterday, but also the PEALD business. ASM International, the leader in ALD & PEALD Equipment today announced a €100 million share buyback, which is a indication that they have some extra cash.

Press release: ASM International N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: ASM) today reports commencement and details of share buyback program.

ASM stock since 2007.

On October 28, 2015 ASM International N.V. ("ASMI") announced a €100 million share buyback to be executed within the 2015-2016 timeframe. As part of this program, ASMI will purchase shares which it intends to cancel upon repurchase. In addition ASMI will purchase, as part of this program, shares to cover employee stock and stock option plans.

Market estimation  for ALD excluding Large Batch ALD (supplied by e.g. Tokyo Electron, Kokusai, ASM), which is typically reported as LPCVD.

The buyback will be realized through a program executed by intermediaries through on-exchange purchases or through off-exchange trades and will end on completion of the program, but ultimately on November 20, 2016.

On May 21, 2015 the General Meeting of Shareholders authorized ASMI to repurchase common shares for a period of 18 months up to a maximum of 10% of the issued capital at a price at least equal to the shares' nominal value and at most equal to 110% of the share's average closing price according to the listing on the NYSE Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange during the five trading days preceding the purchase date. The buyback program will be executed in accordance with the conditions of this mandate given by the General Meeting of Shareholders.

The maximum number of shares to be repurchased on any given day will not exceed 25% of the average daily trading volume on the regulated market on which purchases are made, calculated over the last 20 trading days before the date of repurchase. The program does not include the repurchase of ASMI's New York Registry Share program.

The repurchase program is part of ASMI's commitment to use excess cash for the benefit of its shareholders. 

ASMI will update the markets on the progress of the buyback program on a weekly basis. This information can be found on the ASMI website (www.asm.com).

Plasma ALD growth seen in 2015

According to the PEALD Database administrated by The Plasma ALD guy 2015 has seen a tremendous growth in PEALD Pulblications as compared to 2014. It will be interesting to see the break down to materials and equipment once 2015 comes to an end. check it out : plasma-ald.com

105% PEALD Publication Growth

"Through the first nine months of 2015, I have collected 172 PEALD publications. Compared to the 84 for this same time period in 2014, this represents a 105% growth. Exciting news for the PEALD community. Now I need to find the time to review them all and get them into the plasma ALD Publication Database."

ALD Iridium used to fabricate Ultra-high Resolution Fresnel Zone Plates

According to US Department of Energy, Zone-plate microscopes play a crucial role in various critical science areas such as energy storage, catalysis, photovoltaics, energy conversion, and unconventional oil recovery.

• Current microscopes are limited to resolutions of 15-20 nm in the soft X-ray range and 50-70 nm in the hard X-ray range. 
• Pushing resolutions to the 5-10 nm range will have dramatic new impacts on science and technology.

Similar to the double pattering technique used today in the semiconductor industry, scientists at Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland employ ALD Iridium  in high aspect ratio structures to increase the resolution of Fresenel Zone Plates beyond the limit of e-beam lithography.

FIB cross section of a line doubled iridium zone plate (Figure from Paul Scherrer Institut)

"To further increase the resolution of Fresnel zone plates beyond the limits of electron-beam lithography, we have developed a novel technique based on the coating of a template structure with a metal layer. The electron-beam written template is coated uniformly with iridium using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process (see figure 1). As iridium has a much higher x-ray refractive index as the template, we obtain a doubling of the effective zone density and subsequent improvement of the resolution by a factor of two compared to the template structure."

Complete story here: https://www.psi.ch/lmn/ultra-high-resolution-zone-plates

"Reconstruction of the first ALE experiment"

Here is a very interesting story from Riikka Puurunen on the background of creating a cover picture for the CVD Journal (image below) and material for the 40 year celebration of ALD in Finland.

"Reconstruction of the first ALE experiment". © Riikka Puurunen 2014

"November 29, 2014, it was exactly 40 years since the filing of the first patent on Atomic Layer Epitaxy by Suntola and Antson (FIN 52359). To celebrate this, the Finnish Centre of Excellence on Atomic Layer Deposition (ALDCoE) released the material of the exhibition "40 Years of ALD in Finland - Photos, Stories" (FinALD40) in the internet. Originally, this exhibition had been created for the Baltic ALD 2014 conference in Helsinki, May 12-13, 2014."

Full story in The ALD History Blog: ALD History Blog: Nov 29: Story of a cover image, "Reconstruction of...:

»In zehn Jahren wird CMOS so altmodisch wirken wie die Vakuumröhre«

Elektronik.de has a very interesting series on the future of Moores Law - all in German - Enjoy!: 

Vor fünfzig Jahren wagte der Intel-Mitgründer Gordon Moore seine weitreichende Vorhersage, dass die Anzahl der Transistoren auf einem Chip sich in jedem Jahr verdoppeln würde. Auch mit gewissen quantitativen Revisionen wurde diese Vision zum »mooreschen Gesetz«, das die Halbleiterindustrie seither geprägt und ihren Erfolg definiert hat.

IMEC-Fellow kommentieren das mooresche Gesetz - Teil 5 Dr. Jef Poortmans: »Auch das Internet of Power profitiert vom mooreschen Gesetz«

26.11.2015 –Von modernen Halbleiterfertigungstechniken profitieren auch die Hersteller von PV-Zellen. Aber auch der Sensorik-Bereich nutzt neueste Halbleitertechniken – z.B. für autonome Sensoren im Smart Grid, basierend auf dezentraler Einspeisung aus erneuerbaren Quellen. Dr. Poortmans sieht darin einen …  mehrüber „»Auch das Internet of Power profitiert vom mooreschen Gesetz«“

IMEC-Fellow kommentieren das mooresche Gesetz - Teil 4 Prof. Dr. Chris Van Hoof: »Auch Sensoren für Wearables profitieren von der Skalierung nach dem mooreschen Gesetz«

17.11.2015 –Die analoge Halbleitertechnik folgt der digitalen Halbleitertechnik mit Abstand. Prof. Dr. Chris Van Hoof erläutert im vierten Teil der Serie, warum die Analogtechnik vom Miniaturisierungsfortschritt des Gesetzes von Gordon Moore profitiert – wenn auch verzögert – und dass hier das mooresche Gesetz …  mehrüber „»Auch Sensoren für Wearables profitieren von der Skalierung nach dem mooreschen Gesetz«“

IMEC-Fellow kommentieren das mooresche Gesetz - Teil 3 Prof. Dr. Francky Catthoor: »Design-Techniken können das Leben ­des mooreschen Gesetzes verlängern«

05.11.2015 –Im dritten Teil der Serie sieht Prof. Dr. Francky Catthoor die Grenzen der Miniaturisierung nahe. Nur wenn es gelingt, den Entwurfprozess stärker als bisher durch Innovationen weiterzuentwickeln, könne der technische Fortschritt dem Gesetz von Gordon Moore noch für einige Zeit folgen.  mehrüber „»Design-Techniken können das Leben ­des mooreschen Gesetzes verlängern«“

IMEC-Fellows kommentieren das moore'sche Gesetz - Teil 2: Prof. Dr. Guido Groeseneken: »Wir müssen den Chips beibringen, Schmerz zu empfinden.«

21.10.2015 –Im ersten Teil der Serie sagte Prof. Dr. Marc Heyns das Ende von CMOS voraus. Sein Kollege, Prof. Dr. Guido Groeseneken, sieht in der Zuverlässigkeit von Chips die kommende, größte Herausforderung. Applikationen, nicht Chips werden die künftigen Innovationstreiber sein. Die Halbleiterindustrie wird …  mehrüber „»Wir müssen den Chips beibringen, Schmerz zu empfinden.«“

IMEC-Fellows kommentieren das moore'sche Gesetz - Teil 1: Prof. Dr. Marc Heyns: »In zehn Jahren wird CMOS so altmodisch wirken wie die Vakuumröhre«

09.10.2015 –Vor fünfzig Jahren wagte der Intel-Mitgründer Gordon Moore seine weitreichende Vorhersage, dass die Anzahl der Transistoren auf einem Chip sich in jedem Jahr verdoppeln würde. Auch mit gewissen quantitativen Revisionen wurde diese Vision zum »mooreschen Gesetz«, das die Halbleiterindustrie seither …  mehr

ACHTUNG High-k Samsung supply ALD High-k for Audi

Vorsprung durch Technik - Advancement through technology - finally some ALD high-k will be introduced also for automotive electronics! As reported by Computer Business Review : "Samsung Electronics has become the first semiconductor memory supplier for Audi's Progressive SemiConductor Programme. Samsung will provide 20-nanometer LPDDR4 DRAM and 10-nanometer class eMMC (embedded multimedia card) 5.1 chips to Audi. "

Press release from Samsung : http://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-joins-audis-progressive-semiconductor-program-to-create-the-drive-of-tomorrow

Dr. Kinam Kim, President of Semiconductor Business form the Device Solutions Division of Samsung Electronics, and Ricky Hudi, Executive Vice President Electronic Development of Audi.

President of Samsung Electronics Semiconductor Business Kim Ki-nam (left) signs a contract with Executive Vice President of Audi Ricky Hudi to supply automotive semiconductors on Nov. 23 (local time). - See more at: http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/english/news/industry/13112-progressive-semiconductor-samsung-electronics-supply-automotive-semiconductors#sthash.a68eYl61.dpuf

President of Samsung Electronics Semiconductor Business Kim Ki-nam (left) signs a contract with Executive Vice President of Audi Ricky Hudi to supply automotive semiconductors on Nov. 23 (local time). - See more at: http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/english/news/industry/13112-progressive-semiconductor-samsung-electronics-supply-automotive-semiconductors#sthash.a68eYl61.dpuf

"The chips are expected to be used to power Audi's future infotainment, dashboard and driver assistance applications. Audi presently has an advanced driver assistance system which includes a predictive efficiency assistant, adaptive cruise control, and traffic jam assist. In September, Samsung launched the 12Gb LPDDR4 that has the largest capacity and highest speed available for a DRAM chip. It provides 50% greater density than the existing 8GB chips used in current smartphones, and it is also expected to help smartphones and tablets to have up to 6GB of RAM."

LPDDR4 DRAM from Sasmsung

Audi Electronic Development executive vice president Ricky Hudi said: "Samsung is leading memory technology development with its high-performance, high-density DRAM and NAND flash memory solutions based on the industry's most advanced process technology.

From a Chipworks report abstract that can be bought here, we can see a cross section of the stack capacitor array Samsung is using at 26 nm (see below). For 20 nm I have not been able to find any free available information yet

"Through the PSCP strategic partnership with Samsung, Audi will utilize Samsung's high speed memory products to provide the best user experience to our customers.

I am not an Audi driver but I like this picture (Picture from Audi)

Medical and Aerospace Electronics Powered by Picosun ALD

Picosun Oy, leading supplier of high end Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) thin film coating solutions for global industries, launches ALD equipment for production of high efficiency 3D-integrated trench capacitors.

Capacitors are core components of every electronic device. As the trend is towards constantly miniaturizing and more and more integrated electronic modules, there is a need to develop completely new, disruptive technologies to outperform the existing solutions - especially in areas where flawless performance, long lifetime, and unfaltering reliability are required, such as in medical, space, and aviation applications. 3D-nanofabricated microelectronic components answer this challenge. In high density and high voltage 3D trench capacitors, deep trench structures coated with ultra-thin high-k oxide and metallic layers enable superior voltage and charge density properties.

Picosun's ALD technology is well-established in production of high quality dielectrics for various microelectronic industry applications. Now, PICOSUN™ batch ALD tools optimized for the novel capacitor technology have been proven to reduce cost-of-ownership and deliver excellent uniformity and step coverage for high-k dielectrics into 3D structures.

"Industrialization of the new capacitor technology requires fast and fully automated batch ALD systems. PICOSUN™ batch ALD toolsspecifically designed for this purpose create an important competitive edge to our company. The ability to provide complete, turn-key solutions for cost-efficient manufacturing of the key components for the most advanced IC devices makes Picosun the choice of leading electronics manufacturers", summarizes Juhana Kostamo, Managing Director of Picosun.

BENEQ - The ALD OEM, IDM & Foundry

BENEQ - the ALD Foundry, IDM & OEM. Besides producing displays like an IDM and building ALD Equipment like any OEM, BENEQ is now offering ALD capacity in their factory that has 40 ALD Batch tools for foundry production as a Foundry. This is for sure a very broad and unique business model covering a big portion of the value chain. They call it "Thin as a Service™" and it covers a complete ALD service solution that will provide "a quick and easy way to implement ALD from the first samples to full-blown production".

The service solution consists of two parts - a R&D service that aims to find the customized ALD solution the customer is looking for followed by the industrial production solution that applies the results on the customer’s end products.  The first service part is based on a business process BENEQ calls "ALD-123™" and a development process shown in the diagram above. At the end the customer can choose to buy their own ALD equipment or continue using BENEQ as a foundry.

Read mor of this offering in a recent Blog by BENEQ : http://www.beneq.com/blog/201511/introducing-thin-as-a-service.html

Disruptive atomic level particle free metallic ink products

I was, as usual, searching for any news about ALD and came across this press release from Liquid X. Funny that anything on atomic level can be regarded as disruptive these days - and yes I am proud of the headline, which originally red "ALD - More than 41 years of descriptiveness"

"Liquid X Printed Metals®, Inc. is a technology company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that manufactures functional metallic inks. Liquid X® inks are considered disruptive in that their technology is on the atomic level. This provides processing advantages and achieves better metal film properties than other metallic inks that feature nanoparticles and metal flakes."

Liquid X Printed Metals® Introduces Particle-free Products

Formulated at the Atomic Level, Two Disruptive Metallic Ink Products are Thin, Robust, Adaptable and Cost-effective

 

PITTSBURGH - Liquid X Printed Metals ®, Inc., (Liquid X®), an advanced material manufacturer of functional metallic inks, today introduced two particle-free inks.  The inks will enable manufacturers in the electronics and other industries to produce thinner, more cost-effective and adaptable electronic components that will drive innovation in consumer electronics, and advanced and medical technology among other industries.

The company's two inaugural products, Liquid X®'s Silver Inkjet Ink and Silver Flexo Ink were developed using an original and proprietary particle-free formulation that leads to more cost-effective and trouble-free processing; more durable traces that withstand bending and flexing; adherence to the full range of substrates; good conductivity; excellent printability; and enhanced sustainability due to its water-based composition.

"Liquid X® is introducing particle-free inks that eliminate problems associated with other metallic inks that are made with less stable nanoparticles or metal flakes, which are thicker and can cause clogging, slowness and other problems in printing," said Greg Babe, President and CEO of Liquid X®.  "Our Silver Inkjet Ink and Silver Flexo Ink leverage atomic-level technology, which represents the kind of powerful, robust and adaptable innovation required to tap the fullest potential of printed electronics."

Liquid X(®)'s molecular inks consist of novel metal complexes that are printed as solutions that are used in the creation of films or traces that exhibit high conductivity, are thin and precise, and allow for low-temperature processing that enables adherence on a wide range of substrates. And the low viscosity of the inks allow for use in printing methods that include inkjet, aerosol jet, flexography, and gravure.

Liquid X(®)'s conductive inks are designed for applications that range from transparent conductors and touchscreens, to photovoltaic, industrial and automotive applications, and smart packaging.

Performance

Silver Inkjet Ink features viscosity at 6-9 cPs; Polar Protic Solvents; thermal, photonic and infrared curing methods; adherence to all substrates; and excellent stability when refrigerated. Film trace sheet resistance for one layer is 0.5 - 1 ohms per square.  Thickness for one layer is 200-300 nm.  Trace width is < 50 micrometers.  (Adhesion, tensile - ASTM D3359, 5B rating).  (Adhesion shear - scrub resistant.)  [Gloss - ASTM D523 ISO 2813, At 60 degrees >70 Gloss Units (high gloss)

Silver Flexo Ink features Flexo-Gravure deposition; viscosity at 110-140 cPs (1-50 RPM); 80-110 (60-100 RPM); ~25 sec #2 Zahn Cup;  Polar Protic Solvents; thermal, photonic and infrared curing methods; adherence to all substrates; and excellent stability at room temperature or when refrigerated. Film trace sheet resistance for one layer is 0.5 - 1 ohms per square.  Thickness is 1-3 microns.  (dependent on anilox).   (Adhesion, tensile - ASTM D3359, 5B rating).  (Adhesion shear - scrub resistant.)  [Gloss - ASTM D523 ISO 2813, At 60 degrees >70 Gloss Units (high gloss)

In development is a product called Silver Stretchable Ink, which is designed for stretchable substrates such as fabrics or elastomers.  Applications for Silver Stretchable Ink include wearables, soft robotics and other customized applications.

About Liquid X

Liquid X Printed Metals®, Inc. is a technology company headquartered Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that manufactures functional metallic inks. The company's inks are considered disruptive in that their technology is on the atomic level. This provides processing advantages and achieves better metal film properties than other metallic inks that feature nanoparticles and metal flakes which create instabilities. Visit: www.liquid-x.com.

SK Hynix & SNU demonstrate 28nm RRAM cell with ultra thin ALD Ta/Ta2O5 stack

Here is a impressive report by SK Hynix & Prof. Hwang and co-workers SNU on a RRAM device with Ta/Ta2O5 stacked RS layers with ultra-thin Ta2O5 thicknesses (0.5–2.0 nm) deposited by ALD. Woah that´s thin  - like the same order of thickness like native oxide, which makes me wonder if teh extra couple of ALD cycles was needed --> I need to study the paper more carefully!

Thickness effect of ultra-thin Ta₂O₅ resistance switching layer in 28 nm-diameter memory cell 

C.S. Hwang et al

Scientific Reports 5, Article number: 15965 (2015)
doi:10.1038/srep15965

(a) Schematic diagram and (b) TEM image of the TiN/Ta₂O₅/Ta/TaN device. Ta₂O₅ (0.5 nm) device, and (d) Ta₂O₅ (1.5 nm) device. Insets show the linear I-V plot. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) high angle annular dark field (HAADF) images of (c) 0.5 nm-thick device and (d) 2.0nm-thick device. 

Resistance switching (RS) devices with ultra-thin Ta₂O₅ switching layer (0.5–2.0 nm) with a cell diameter of 28 nm were fabricated. The performance of the devices was tested by voltage-driven current—voltage (I-V) sweep and closed-loop pulse switching (CLPS) tests. A Ta layer was placed beneath the Ta₂O₅ switching layer to act as an oxygen vacancy reservoir. The device with the smallest Ta₂O₅ thickness (0.5 nm) showed normal switching properties with gradual change in resistance in I-V sweep or CLPS and high reliability. By contrast, other devices with higher Ta₂O₅ thickness (1.0–2.0 nm) showed abrupt switching with several abnormal behaviours, degraded resistance distribution, especially in high resistance state, and much lower reliability performance. A single conical or hour-glass shaped double conical conducting filament shape was conceived to explain these behavioural differences that depended on the Ta₂O₅ switching layer thickness. Loss of oxygen via lateral diffusion to the encapsulating Si₃N₄/SiO₂ layer was suggested as the main degradation mechanism for reliability, and a method to improve reliability was also proposed.

The web page for the joint EuroCVD-BalticALD 2017 in Sweden is up!

The web page for the joint EuroCVD-BalticALD 2017 in Sweden is up!

Check it out here : eurocvd-balticald2017.se

ALD Systems Guide at AZO Nano is updated

ALD Systems Guide at AZO Nano is updated - if you´re planning to invest in some new ALD equipment - check it out!

AZO Nano ALD Guide: http://www.azonano.com/nanotechnology-equipment.aspx?cat=33

 

The collection is not complete but a good start. Interesting is that there is still an offering for Aviza Technology Celsior fxP Single Wafer ALD System that used to run The famous NOLA Process on for 90 and 70 nm Deep Trench DRAM Production at Infineon / Qimonda, Nanya, Inotera, and Winbond. Probably not active anymore.