Atomic Level Processing on top in Most Read JVST A Articles in 2017

Atomic Level Processing on top in Most Read JVST A Articles in 2017, including the Virtual Project on the History of ALD (VPHA) recommended reading list. A lot of Etch papers, and many of them from Lam Research.

LINK

Review Article: Recommended reading list of early publications on atomic layer deposition — Outcome of the “Virtual Project on the History of ALD”

Esko Ahvenniemi, Andrew R. Akbashev, Saima Ali, Mikhael Bechelany, Maria Berdova, Stefan Boyadjiev, David C. Cameron, Rong Chen, Mikhail Chubarov, Veronique Cremers, Anjana Devi, Viktor Drozd, Liliya Elnikova, Gloria Gottardi, Kestutis Grigoras, Dennis M. Hausmann, Cheol Seong Hwang, Shih-Hui Jen, Tanja Kallio, Jaana Kanervo, Ivan Khmelnitskiy, Do Han Kim, Lev Klibanov, Yury Koshtyal, A. Outi I. Krause, Jakob Kuhs, Irina Kärkkänen, Marja-Leena Kääriäinen, Tommi Kääriäinen, Luca Lamagna, Adam A. Łapicki, Markku Leskelä, Harri Lipsanen, Jussi Lyytinen, Anatoly Malkov, Anatoly Malygin, Abdelkader Mennad, Christian Militzer, Jyrki Molarius, Małgorzata Norek, Çağla Özgit-Akgün, Mikhail Panov, Henrik Pedersen, Fabien Piallat, Georgi Popov, Riikka L. Puurunen, Geert Rampelberg, Robin H. A. Ras, Erwan Rauwel, Fred Roozeboom, Timo Sajavaara, Hossein Salami, Hele Savin, Nathanaelle Schneider, Thomas E. Seidel, Jonas Sundqvist, Dmitry B. Suyatin, Tobias Törndahl, J. Ruud van Ommen, Claudia Wiemer, Oili M. E. Ylivaara, Oksana Yurkevich

JVST A 35, 010801 (2017) | Read More

Predicting synergy in atomic layer etching

Keren J. Kanarik, Samantha Tan, Wenbing Yang, Taeseung Kim, Thorsten Lill, Alexander Kabansky, Eric A. Hudson, Tomihito Ohba, Kazuo Nojiri, Jengyi Yu, Rich Wise, Ivan L. Berry, Yang Pan, Jeffrey Marks, Richard A. Gottscho

JVST A 35, 05C302 (2017) | Read More

Role of neutral transport in aspect ratio dependent plasma etching of three-dimensional features

Chad M. Huard, Yiting Zhang, Saravanapriyan Sriraman, Alex Paterson, Mark J. Kushner

JVST A 35, 05C301 (2017) | Read More

Atomic layer etching in close-to-conventional plasma etch tools

Andy Goodyear and Mike Cooke

JVST A 35, 01A105 (2017) | Read More

 

Quasi-atomic layer etching of silicon nitride

Sonam D. Sherpa and Alok Ranjan

JVST A 35, 01A102 (2017) | Read More

Atomic layer etching of SiO ₂ by alternating an O ₂ plasma with

fluorocarbon film deposition

Takayoshi Tsutsumi, Hiroki Kondo, Masaru Hori, Masaru Zaitsu, Akiko Kobayashi, Toshihisa Nozawa, Nobuyoshi Kobayashi

JVST A 35, 01A103 (2017) | Read More

Atomic layer etching of 3D structures in silicon: Self-limiting and nonideal reactions

Chad M. Huard, Yiting Zhang, Saravanapriyan Sriraman, Alex Paterson, Keren J. Kanarik, Mark J. Kushner

JVST A 35, 031306 (2017) | Read More

Review Article: Reactions of fluorine atoms with silicon, revisited, again

Vincent M. Donnelly

JVST A 35, 05C202 (2017) | Read More

Correcting defects in area selective molecular layer deposition

Richard G. Closser, David S. Bergsman, Luis Ruelas, Fatemeh Sadat Minaye Hashemi, Stacey F. Bent

JVST A 35, 031509 (2017) | Read More

Investigation of feature orientation and consequences of ion tilting during plasma etching with a three-dimensional feature profile simulator

Yiting Zhang, Chad Huard, Saravanapriyan Sriraman, Jun Belen, Alex Paterson, Mark J. Kushner

JVST A 35, 021303 (2017) | Read More

Characterizing the field of Atomic Layer Deposition: Authors, topics, and collaborations

Elsa Alvaro, Angel Yanguas-Gil  are done so you can stop what you are doing right now and check out the most interesting ALD publication in 2018! Find out what have been and what are the hot topics, materials applications, authors in the field of ALD. Also a big congratulations to the two most productive authors in scientific publishing in the field of ALD, Prof. Markku Leskelä and and Prof. Mikko Ritala of Helsinki University of Finland.

Characterizing the field of Atomic Layer Deposition: Authors, topics, and collaborations [OPEN ACCESS]

Elsa Alvaro, Angel Yanguas-Gil
Published: January 10, 2018
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0189137 

 
This paper describes how Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) has evolved over time using a combination of bibliometric, social network, and text analysis. We examined the rate of knowledge production as well as changes in authors, journals, and collaborators, showing a steady growth of ALD research. The study of the collaboration network of ALD scientists over time points out that the ALD research community is becoming larger and more interconnected, with a largest connected component that spans 90% of the authors in 2015. In addition, the evolution of network centrality measures (degree and betweenness centrality) and author productivity revealed the central figures in ALD over time, including new “stars” appearing in the last decade. Finally, the study of the title words in our dataset is consistent with a shift in focus on research topics towards energy applications and nanotechnology. 

This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.

 

 

 

Number of papers (a) and journals (b) that publish ALD research, and percentage among SCIE papers (c) and journals (d).https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0189137.g001 

 

 

 

Top 10 most productive authors in ALD. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0189137.t004 

Osram orders multi-reactor Propel HVM and K475i MOCVD systems from Veeco for high-volume photonics and LED applications

Epitaxial deposition and process equipment maker Veeco Instruments Inc of Plainview, NY, USA says that Osram Opto Semiconductors GmbH of Regensburg, Germany has ordered a multi-reactor Propel High-Volume Manufacturing (HVM) gallium nitride (GaN) metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system, as well as K475i MOCVD systems. 

The K475i system incorporates Veeco’s Uniform FlowFlange technology, producing films with very high uniformity and improved within-wafer and wafer-to-wafer repeatability with what is claimed to be the industry’s lowest particle generation for demanding applications like photonics and advanced LEDs.  

Source: Semiconductor Today LINK

Incorporating proprietary TurboDisc and Uniform FlowFlange™ MOCVD technologies, the new K475i system enables Veeco customers to reduce LED cost per wafer by up to 20 percent compared to alternative systems through higher productivity, best-in-class yields and reduced operating expenses. (Source: Veeco LINK)

New ALD High-k / 2D MoS2 light-erasable memory suitable for large area manufacturing technology

Phys.Org reports that researchers at the Institute of Microelectronics Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMECAS), and Fudan University have used 2D MoS₂ to design a new light-erasable memory.

According to the article in Applied Physics Letter, the memory stack is based on an high-k dielectric stack (Al₂O₃/HfO₂/Al₂O₃) and an atomically thin MoS₂ channel, where he HfO₂ act as the charge trapping layer. The holes in the HfO₂ charge-trapping layer will tunnel to the MoS₂ channel through the 4 nm Al₂O₃ tunnel layer. 

 

 

Schematic band diagrams of the MoS₂/Al₂O₃/HfO₂/Al₂O₃/Gate structure at (a) flat-band condition, (b) programming operation, and (c) erasing operation. (Supplementary information, Applied Physics Letters. DOI: 10.1063/1.5000552)

"In general, system-on-panel (SOP) describes a new display technology in which both active and passive components are integrated in one panel package, typically on the same glass substrate (sometimes system-on-panel is also named system-on-glass)," coauthor Hao Zhu at Fudan University told Phys.org. "This is different from traditional display technologies such as cathode ray tube (CRT) displays. One major characteristic of SOP is the application of thin-film technology, such as low-temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) thin-film transistor (TFT) arrays on the glass substrate. However, silicon-based thin-film transistors are being replaced by TFTs with new materials with improved properties. The indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) or zinc tin oxide (ZTO) thin film mentioned in our paper is also a good example. [Phys.org]

"Currently, we are working on the large-scale integration of such light-erasable 2-D memory devices using programmable light pulses with controllable wavelength and pulse duration," he said. "We are using new material synthesis methods such as atomic layer deposition to grow large-area MoS2 and other 2-D ultra-thin films for circuit-level applications."  [Phys.org]

The future prospects for large scale manufacturing are there. Except for the MoS₂ channel, both Al₂O₃ and HfO₂ are standard ALD processing technologies since more than 10 years in the semiconductor industry and recent developments for flexible OLED Display manufacturing  has made the ALD technology also available for large panel processing and roll to roll technology is just looking for an excuse high volume manufacturing.

 
Article: Long-Fei He et al. "Light-erasable embedded charge-trapping memory based on MoS2 for system-on-panel applications." Applied Physics Letters. DOI: 10.1063/1.5000552

Full story: LINK

Lam Research and Tokyo Electron took market shares in 2017

Currently the fabs are running hot and expanding and 2018 is expected to continue to grow according to OEMs and market research companies like o VLSI Research (CEO Dan Hutcheson, see below). Solid State Technology reports, based on recent market research by The Information Network (LINK) that Market leader Applied Materials lost market shares in 2017 to the main competitor Tokyo Electron and Lam Research.

"Applied Materials 1.3 share points, dropping from 28.2% in 2016 to 26.9% YTD (year to date). Gaining share are Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TEL), which gained 2.4 share points while rising from 17.0% in 2016 to 19.4% in 2017 YTD. Lam Research gained 1.6 share points and growing from a 19.0% share in 2016 to a 20.6% share in 2017 YTD."

The three companies compete in the following areas with huge growth due to the memory boom in 2017 (3DNAND and DRAM):

• conductor and dielectric etch equipment
• deposition equipment - single/multiwafer ALD and CVD

CVD equipment share is roughly 3X that of ALD and ALD passed PVD in 2015 (according to VLSI Research). Furnace ALD and CVD is dominated by Tokyo Electron and Kokusai, however it is a smaller segment as compared to single and multi wafer ALD and CVD. ASMI, the leader in ALD single wafer equipment does not seem to have been able to grow with memory, down from 2.0% to 1.7%.

Please find the full article here: LINK

 

SEMI Data Projects New Highs in Fab Equipment Spending. #semiconductor https://t.co/JfCpJD6wSR pic.twitter.com/2RRCYi2Iu0

— SEMICON (@SEMIexpos) January 3, 2018

Memory chips led the way in 2017 boosting a 22% record semiconductor growth in revenue

Memory chips (DRAM & FLASH) led the way in 2017 boosting a 22% record semiconductor growth in revenue. Samsung Electronics became the number 1 in overall semiconductor sales for the first time, displacing Intel, which had held the top spot in sales every year since 1992. 

EE Times reports : Semiconductor sales grew by 22 percent to reach a record $419.7 billion — with memory chips leading the way — according to a preliminary estimate by market research firm Gartner.

Gartner (Stamford, Conn.) estimates that increased sales of memory chips due to shortages of NAND flash and DRAM accounted for about two-thirds of overall chip market growth in 2017. Memory also become the single largest semiconductor products category last year, according to the firm.

Full story: LINK

Gartener 2016 to 2017 revenue change for Top 10 Semiconductor companies [replotted]

Call for Abstracts - AVS 18th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD 2018)

#ALDALE 2018 Call for Abstracts Due February 16 https://t.co/amy6pQPwDN pic.twitter.com/AVlPkZ7qdl

— AVSALD (@AvsAld) January 3, 2018

The  AVS 18th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD 2018)  featuring the  5th International Atomic Layer Etching Workshop (ALE 2018)  will be a three-day meeting dedicated to the science and technology of atomic layer controlled deposition of thin films and now topics related to atomic layer etching. The conference will take place Sunday, July 29-Wednesday, August 1, 2018 , at the Songdo Convensia in Incheon, South Korea.

As in past conferences, the meeting will be preceded (Sunday, July 29) by one day of tutorials and a welcome reception. Sessions will take place (Monday-Wednesday, July 30-August 1) along with an industry tradeshow. All presentations will be audio-recorded and provided to attendees following the conference (posters will be included as PDFs). Anticipated attendance is 600+.



Key Deadlines:

Abstract Submission Deadline: February 16, 2018

Author Acceptance Notifications: April 9, 2018

Student Award Applications Deadline: May 1, 2018

Early Registration Deadline: June 1, 2018

Hotel Reservation Deadline: June 26, 2018

JVST Special Issue Deadline: September 5, 2018

Picosun and Inert has made a new glovebox-ALD install at the Chemical and Technical Institute in Prague

Picosun and Inert has made a new glovebox-ALD install at the Chemical and Technical Institute, Prague. The Inert box is integrated with a R-200 tool for Atomic Layer Deposition of platinum and metal oxides.

Check out the details below!

 

New #glovebox install at the Chemical and Technical Institute, Prague @VSCHT has an integrated @PicosunALD R-200 tool for Atomic Layer Deposition of platinum and metal oxides!https://t.co/G6gst5yEus#Inert #gloveboxes #ALD #ALDep #Deposition #science #chemistry #lab #Picosun pic.twitter.com/6DAetU8AHz

— Inert (@InertCorp) December 21, 2017

Cornell University fabricate cell-sized origami robots by an ALD & graphene nanotechnology

Cornell University reports that one of their researcher teams has made a robot exoskeleton that can rapidly change its shape upon sensing chemical or thermal changes in its environment. And, they claim, these microscale machines – equipped with electronic, photonic and chemical payloads – could become a powerful platform for robotics at the size scale of biological microorganisms. Their work is outlined in “Graphene-based Bimorphs for Micron-sized, Autonomous Origami Machines,” published Jan. 2 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Miskin is lead author; other contributors included David Muller, the Samuel B. Eckert Professor of Engineering, and doctoral students Kyle Dorsey, Baris Bircan and Yimo Han. [Graphene-based bimorphs for micron-sized, autonomous origami machines. Marc Z. Miskin et al (2018), PNAS https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712889115 ]

Please check out this interview video for more amazing details - some snapshots are given below in  the form of screen dumps from vimeo [LINK]

 

 

 

The bimorph is built using atomic layer deposition of atomically thin layers (2 nm) of silicon dioxide onto aluminum over a cover slip – then wet-transferring a single atomic layer of graphene on top of the stack. The result is the thinnest bimorph ever made. [Vimeo Screen dump]

 

Processing has been taken place in Cornell University Clean room - Cornell NanoScale Facility for Science and Technology, here showing the ALD reactor and rpocessing of the SiO2 layer (Oxford Instruments, FlexAl) [Vimeo Screen dump]

The researchers can fabricate many different forms of origami shapes ranging from simple tetrahedrons to cubes and helix shaped objects [Vimeo Screen dump]

 

 

With this new amazing technology, the Cornell rersearchers are developing robotic ‘exoskeleton’ for electronics with integrated microchips. [Vimeo Screen dump]

 

 

 

Get back to work - SEMI projects continued boom in fab equipment spending for 2018

MILPITAS, Calif. ─ January 2, 2018 ─ The year-end update to the SEMI World Fab Forecast report reveals 2017 spending on fab equipment investments will reach an all-time high of $57 billion. High chip demand, strong pricing for memory, and fierce competition are driving the high-level of fab investments, with many companies investing at previously unseen levels for new fab construction and fab equipment. See figure 1.

Figure 1

The SEMI World Fab Forecast data shows fab equipment spending in 2017 totaling US$57 billion, an increase of 41 percent year-over-year (YoY). In 2018, spending is expected to increase 11 percent to US$63 billion.

While many companies, including Intel, Micron, Toshiba (and Western Digital), and GLOBALFOUNDRIES increased fab investments for 2017 and 2018, the strong increase reflects spending by just two companies and primarily one region.

Single Atomic Layer Ferroelectric on Silicon by PVD ZrO2

A team of mainly US based researchers from (Yale, MIT, Université de Genève and Globalfoundries) have been able to scale down ferroelectric ZrO2 to only one atomic layer on silicon using PVD. This record breaking thin monolayer ferroelectric allows for more aggressively scaled devices than bulk ferroelectrics as compared to the most current 5–10 nm thick layers based on e.g. Si:HfO2 and HfZrOx. 

They found that:

• single atomic layer ZrO2 exhibits ferroelectric switching behavior when grown with an atomically abrupt interface on silicon
• ZrO2 gate stack demonstrate that a reversible polarization of the ZrO2 interface structure couples to the carriers in the silicon.

Single Atomic Layer Ferroelectric on Silicon

Mehmet Dogan, Stéphanie Fernandez-Peña, Lior Kornblum, Yichen Jia, Divine P. Kumah, James W. Reiner, Zoran Krivokapic, Alexie M. Kolpak, Sohrab Ismail-Beigi, Charles H. Ahn, and Frederick J. Walker

Nano Lett., Article ASAP, DOI:10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b03988

Abstract: A single atomic layer of ZrO2 exhibits ferroelectric switching behavior when grown with an atomically abrupt interface on silicon. Hysteresis in capacitance–voltage measurements of a ZrO2 gate stack demonstrate that a reversible polarization of the ZrO2 interface structure couples to the carriers in the silicon. First-principles computations confirm the existence of multiple stable polarization states and the energy shift in the semiconductor electron states that result from switching between these states. This monolayer ferroelectric represents a new class of materials for achieving devices that transcend conventional complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Significantly, a single atomic layer ferroelectric allows for more aggressively scaled devices than bulk ferroelectrics, which currently need to be thicker than 5–10 nm to exhibit significant hysteretic behavior (Park, et al. Adv. Mater. 2015, 27, 1811).

Reprinted with permission from (Single Atomic Layer Ferroelectric on Silicon, M. Dogan et al, Nano Letters, Dec 2017). Copyright (2018) American Chemical Society.

High‐resolution STEM image and EDX intensity profiles of Si, Al and Zr. The Supporting Information is available free of charge on the ACS Publications website at "Single Atomic Layer Ferroelectric on Silicon" https://figshare.com/collections/Single_Atomic_Layer_Ferroelectric_on_Silicon/3961401