Surface Smoothing by Atomic Layer Deposition and Etching for the Fabrication of Nanodevices.

In many nano(opto)electronic devices, the roughness at surfaces and interfaces is of increasing importance, with roughness often contributing toward losses and defects, which can lead to device failure. Consequently, approaches that either limit roughness or smoothen surfaces are required to minimize surface roughness during fabrication. The atomic-scale processing techniques atomic layer deposition (ALD) and atomic layer etching (ALE) have experimentally been shown to smoothen surfaces, with the added benefit of offering uniform and conformal processing and precise thickness control.