Live from The High-k Workshop at NaMLab in Dresden

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.

 

Live from The High-k Workshop at NaMLab Dresden Germany. The Coffee is break sponsored by Oxford Instruments and the event itself by EU COST - Hooking together European research in atomic layer deposition (HERALD)

Sponsors:

     

CVD Equipment Corp. and Penn State Partner on 2D ALD Research

As reported: CVD Equipment Corporation today announced that it will be entering into an industrial partnership with Penn State University.

 

Through the National Science Foundation’s Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) program, Penn State University (PSU) has been awarded $1.96M for Two-dimensional Atomic-layer Research and Engineering (2-DARE). This PSU project, headed by Professor Joan Redwing, will leverage CVD Equipment Corporation’s engineering and manufacturing capabilities to advance the deposition technologies and processes for producing novel 2D materials beyond graphene. The main focus will be on developing and optimizing the techniques for producing crystalline 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and tungsten diselenide (WSe2). This work will pave the way for the future production of 2D materials, as they find their place in widespread industrial applications.

Prof. Joan Redwing, holds appointments in the Department of Electrical Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering at Penn State and is a member of the Materials Research Institute. Dr. Redwing’s research interests are in the general area of electronic materials synthesis and characterization with a specific emphasis on semiconductor thin film, nanowire and 2D materials fabrication by chemical vapor deposition.

 

Over recent years, the demonstration of graphene’s remarkable physical properties has led to the emerging application of graphene in many next generation products and devices. Although there is still much work to be done to fully understand graphene, many researchers have turned their attention to other 2D materials with equally promising and often unique properties. As such, a whole host of 2D materials are under vibrant interdisciplinary scientific study with an exciting outlook for disruptive technological advancements in big businesses such as semiconductor, optoelectronics, structural, and environmental applications, amongst others. Chemical vapor deposition and atomic layer deposition techniques are proving to be powerful for producing these atomically thin materials, but the often home-built university lab deposition equipment is limited in the process capabilities.

Summer school in Brescia "Atomic Layer Deposition: Method and Applications"

The Summer school “Atomic Layer Deposition: Method and Applications” will be held in Brescia, from the 6th to 10th July 2015. Lessons will take place at Collegio Universitario Luigi Lucchini.

The event is organized by INSTM in collaboration with Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (DIMI, University of Brescia) and COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).

The Scientific Coordinator is prof. Laura Depero, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia.

Course objectives are:

• learn the fundamentals of ALD based on sequential self-limiting surface reactions
• understand the important advantages of ALD and comparison with other deposition techniques
• learn about ideal and non-ideal ALD and thermal and plasma-enhanced ALD.
• understand how ALD surface chemistry and growth are studied using in situ probes
• learn how ALD can be used for thin film nanoengineering
• understand the many current and potential applications of ALD

The Summer school is organised into lessons, seminars and thematic work sessions.
Lessons will take place in the morning from 8:30 to 12:30. All the physical, chemical and engineering concepts of ALD will be revised, by illustrious scientist.
Seminars dedicated to one main theme of application will be held by scientist leader in the field in the early afternoon from 14:30 to 16:00.
Thematic work sessions dedicated to the theme faced during the daily seminar will take place in the late afternoon from 16:00 to 18:00. Five minutes presentation of posters or slides from students are encouraged to discuss the main problems of material synthesis and characterization in the selected field. Detailed program and speakers will be available soon.

Registration fee is 500 euro (VAT included). Registration includes: courses material, coffee breaks, 5 lunch, 5 dinner. Payment may be done via bank transfer or credit card (VISA or MASTERCARD) as specified in the registration form. Deadline for registration and payment is 31 May 2015.

Limited number of fellowships supported by COST Action HERALD will be available for early registrations. Deadline is 30 April 2015. The names of selected fellows will be communicated within 15 May 2015.

Places in double rooms are available at Casa Marcolini Facella. Accomodation cost is 41 euro per day per room (20,50 euro per person). Breakfast is excluded. Info: info@casamarcolinifacella.it.

Important Dates:

30.04.2015: Deadline for fellowship application
31.05.2015: Deadline for registration and payment
Scientific Program

Announcement

Flyer

Registration form

Fellowship application form

Contacts: Daniele Consigli (Secretary); Laura Borgese (Local organizing committee)

ITALIAN VERSION

ASM International benefited from strong growth in ALD market in 2014

Intersting facts and statements from the most successful ALD supplier ASM International N.V. (ASMI) CEO Chuck del Prado on Q4 2014 Results - Earnings Call Transcript from Seeking Alpha:

Chuck del Prado - ASM International President and CEOLooking back to the year as a whole 2014 was an important and successful year for ASMI. We delivered record revenue and results for our long-term business. Our combined ALD and (NYSE:PE)ALD business had a great year as we further expanded the base of high volume manufacturing customers.

• the key driver was again our combined ALD and (PE)ALD visage. By market segment fourth quarter revenue was led by memory customers followed by the logic and foundry segments. The gross margin remained at the strong level of 43% in the fourth quarter, stable compared to the third quarter and up from 39% level in the fourth quarter of 2013.

• Orders were primarily driven by our combined (PE)ALD and ALD business. In terms of customer segments bookings were led by the memory segment both DRAM and NAND Flash followed by logic

• As a market leader, we benefited from strong growth in ALD market in 2014. Following growth in customer deployment and the development of new applications over the last years, ALD has turned into a key growth driver for our company.

• Our ALD and (PE)ALD product lines accounted for more than half of our total equipment revenue in 2014. ALD is now firmly established as a key enabling technology, some of our leading customers have already ramped multiple technology generations based on our ALD equipment.

• In the more recent years, we have successfully penetrated additional customers. In 2014, we have seen some of these new customers deploying our ALD and (PE)ALD systems for the first time in substantial volumes. 

• Over time, we have also achieved some more robust and balanced customer mix on the back of success in ALD. Apart from expanding our presence in the logic foundry segment, we also have built as you know strong customer relationships in the memory sector. Our (PE)ALD equipments is an enabling technology for [space defined double patterning] and used by virtually all of the leading memory customers.

• Building out our leadership in ALD is a key element in our growth strategy. We continue to invest significant resources in further strengthening the competitiveness of our platforms and on the development of new ALD and (PE)ALD applications that will support our customers in transitioning to the next technology node. 

• Growth prospects for the ALD market remain strong. For many authorization in 3D device architecture such as FinFET and new and more complex material integration schemes increase the needs for more precise film deposition which in turn will continue driving the demand for ALD at the most advanced technology nodes.

• As the market leader with more than 15 years of developing this technology and with the broadest offering of ALD and (PE)ALD solutions, we believe we are well positioned to benefit from further growth, so looking at the market environment as a whole, following a drop in 2013 wafer fab equipment spending rebounded strongly year-over-year in 2014 by approximately 15%. The second half of last year was not a strong as the first half of the year as some customers absorbed the investments they made in earlier periods actually in that applies to logic and foundry. 

• Overall growth in wafer fab equipment spending in 2014 was for a large part driven by strong increases in the memory sector. VLSI and Gartner expect another positive year for our industry in 2015 with the further mid-single-digit increase year-over-year. In the logic foundry sector, wafer fab equipment spending is expected to be driven by investments in the 16-nanometer and 14-nanometer nodes and to a lesser extent in initial spending in the 10-nanometer node, although the exact timing of these investments is still uncertain.

TSMC Collaborates with ITRC in Development of ALD Equipment

TSMC Wednesday signed a cooperation agreement with Taiwan Instrument Technology Research Center (ITRC) in development of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) equipment, to elevate the ability of localizing semiconductor equipment.

ITRC, a government funded research institute in instrument related frontier researches foreseen by the nation, unveiled its Atomic Layer Deposition(ALD) Joint Laboratory. TSMC, Tsinghua University, Huwei University of Technology, Hermes-Epitek, Hermes Microvision and AIBT all attended the opening ceremony.

Qi Zhen-Ying, vice president of ITRC, and Sun Yuan-cheng, deputy general manager of TSMC, signed a cooperation agreement. The two sides will work together at the ALD Joint Laboratory with industry and academia.

Atomic Layer Etching - An Intel Perspective

Atomic Layer Etching: An Industry Perspective

Colin T. Carver, John J. Plombon, Patricio E. Romero, Satyarth Suriz, Tristan A. Tronic and
Robert B. Turkot Jr.

[Components Research, Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, Oregon 97124, USA]
doi: 10.1149/2.0021506jss ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol. 2015 volume 4, i

Abstract [OPEN ACCESS, Full version: http://jss.ecsdl.org/content/4/6/N5005.full] 

This paper provides an industry perspective on atomic layer etching (ALEt) process. Two process sequences representing two different methods of ALEt are described, followed by several examples where ALEt can be an enabling process technology in the semiconductor industry. The authors believe that there needs to be an increased understanding of surface functionalization, modification and chemistry-based material removal. We are confident that this review article will allow for increased scientific and technological solutions for enabling ALEt.

ALEt Method 1

(a) – (d) Schematic representation of an ALEt process. Figure 1(a) is an incoming substrate, Figure 1(b) shows an absorbed layer on the surface atoms due to chemistry exposure, Figure 1(c) shows bombardment of the surface layer using energized ions or neutrals and Figure 1(d) shows removal of the surface layer as volatile by-products. 

ALEt Method 2

 

(a) – (d) Schematic representation of an ALEt process. Figure 2(a) is an incoming substrate, Figure 2(b) shows an absorbed layer on the surface atoms due to gaseous/chemical precursor exposure, Figure 2(c) shows exposure of the modified surface layer to ligands such that the M^*-L molecule can be removed either by temperature or pumping down to low pressure, Figure 2(d).  

ALEt publication statistics compared to ALD

Graphs showing comparison of number of publications in ALD versus ALEt. Plot constructed from a SCOPUS database search for the terms “Atomic Layer Etching” and “Atomic Layer Deposition”, retrieved on December 3rd 2014. (©2015 by The Electrochemical Society)

ALDNanoSolutions, CU-Boulder and CoorsTek to develop new additive manufacturing precursors

As reported by ALD Nano Solutions: ALD NanoSolutions continues its long standing relationship with the University of Colorado with a $90,000 grant from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade. The funding from the Advanced Industry Accelerator grant will develop direct ink writing using particle ALD core-shell precursors for net-shape additive manufacturing of advanced 3-D ceramic structures. Professor Alan Weimer at the University of Colorado is partnering with ALD NanoSolutions and CoorsTek to develop an enabling production process for the next generation of advanced 3-D ceramics for use in additive manufacturing.

The program will use Particle ALD(TM) to coat sintering additives directly onto fine ceramic particles and optimize the surface properties for efficient dispersion and bonding with carrier resins. This creates the optimum environment to print the highest quality 3-D ceramic parts. The precision of the Particle ALD(TM) method is leveraged to produce ideal raw materials and the scalability of the technique provides a cost effective method of production.

About ALD NanoSolutions

As the leader in digital coating solutions for composite materials, ALD NanoSolutions (ALDN) is dedicated to bringing next generation performance to materials used across a wide range of industries. ALDN’s mission is to accelerate the commercial success of its customers by delivering superior materials solutions based on its proprietary atomic layer deposition platform. The ALDN web site is http://www.aldnanosolutions.com.