Area-selective atomic layer deposition (AS-ALD), which provides a bottom-up nanofabrication method with atomic-scale precision, has attracted a great deal of attention as a means to alleviate the problems associated with conventional top-down patterning. In this study, we report a methodology for achieving selective deposition of high- dielectrics by surface modification through vapor-phase functionalization of octadecylphosphonic acid (ODPA) inhibitor molecules accompanied by post-surface treatment. A comparative evaluation of deposition selectivity of ZrO thin films deposited with the O and O reactants was performed on SiO, TiN, and W substrates, and we confirmed that high enough deposition selectivity over 10 nm can be achieved even after 200 cycles of ALD with the O reactant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA tetrasubstituted carbon atom connected by three sp or sp-carbons with single nitrogen, i.e., the α-tertiary amine (ATA) functional group, is an essential structure of diverse naturally occurring alkaloids and pharmaceuticals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe ultrathin and continuous ruthenium (Ru) film was deposited through an improved atomic layer deposition (ALD) process with a discrete feeding method (DFM), called DF-ALD, employing a cut-in purge step during the precursor feeding. The excess precursor molecules can be physically adsorbed onto the chemisorbed precursors on the substrate during precursor feeding, which screens the reactive sites on the surface. Using DF-ALD, surface coverage of precursors was enhanced because the cut-in purge removes the physisorbed precursors securing the reactive sites beneath them; thus, nucleation density was greatly increased.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe introduce the synthesis of hybrid nanostructures comprised of ZnO nanocrystals (NCs) decorating nanosheets and nanowires (NWs) of MoS prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The concentration, size, and surface-to-volume ratio of the ZnO NCs can be systematically engineered by controlling both the number of ZnO ALD cycles and the properties of the MoS substrates, which are prepared by sulfurizing ALD MoO. Analysis of the chemical composition combined with electron microscopy and synchrotron X-ray techniques as a function of the number of ZnO ALD cycles, together with the results of quantum chemical calculations, help elucidate the ZnO growth mechanism and its dependence on the properties of the MoS substrate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReduced graphene oxide (RGO) obtained from graphene oxide has received much attention because of its simple and cost-effective manufacturing process. Previous studies have demonstrated the scalable production of RGO with relatively high quality; however, irreducible defects on RGO deteriorate the unique intrinsic physical properties of graphene, such as high-mobility electrical charge transport, limiting its potential applicability. Using the enhanced chemical reactivity of such defects, atomic layer deposition (ALD) can be a useful method to selectively passivate the defect sites.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
November 2018
A method for significantly increasing the growth rates (GRs) of high- k oxide thin films grown via plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) by enhancing the plasma density through the addition of Ar gas to the O plasma oxidant was developed. This approach led to improvements of ∼60% in the saturation GRs of PE-ALD ZrO, HfO, and SiO. Furthermore, despite the significantly higher GR enabled by PE-ALD, the mechanical and dielectric properties of the PE-ALD oxide films were similar or even superior to those of films grown via the conventional O plasma process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report the effects of bottom electrode shapes on resistive random-access memory (RRAM) devices composed of Nb (bottom electrode)/NiO (dielectric)/Nb (top electrode) structures. By adopting a nano-fabrication process using an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) nanotemplate, a well-aligned Nb nanopin array bottom electrode was formed on the surface of a Si substrate. For comparison, a Nb thin film was employed as a different type of bottom electrode.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArea-selective atomic layer deposition (ALD) is envisioned to play a key role in next-generation semiconductor processing and can also provide new opportunities in the field of catalysis. In this work, we developed an approach for the area-selective deposition of metal oxides on noble metals. Using O gas as co-reactant, area-selective ALD has been achieved by relying on the catalytic dissociation of the oxygen molecules on the noble metal surface, while no deposition takes place on inert surfaces that do not dissociate oxygen (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
January 2018
We report the effect of YO passivation by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using various oxidants, such as HO, O plasma, and O, on In-Ga-Zn-O thin-film transistors (IGZO TFTs). A large negative shift in the threshold voltage (V) was observed in the case of the TFT subjected to the HO-ALD YO process; this shift was caused by a donor effect of negatively charged chemisorbed HO molecules. In addition, degradation of the IGZO TFT device performance after the O plasma-ALD YO process (field-effect mobility (μ) = 8.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Appl Mater Interfaces
November 2017
The reaction mechanism of area-selective atomic layer deposition (AS-ALD) of AlO thin films using self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) was systematically investigated by theoretical and experimental studies. Trimethylaluminum (TMA) and HO were used as the precursor and oxidant, respectively, with octadecylphosphonic acid (ODPA) as an SAM to block AlO film formation. However, AlO layers began to form on the ODPA SAMs after several cycles, despite reports that CH-terminated SAMs cannot react with TMA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor atomic layer deposition (ALD) of doped, ternary, and quaternary materials achieved by combining multiple binary ALD processes, it is often difficult to correlate the material properties and growth characteristics with the process parameters due to a limited understanding of the underlying surface chemistry. In this work, in situ Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was employed during ALD of zinc-oxide, tin-oxide, and zinc-tin-oxide (ZTO) with the precursors diethylzinc (DEZ), tetrakis(dimethylamino)tin (TDMASn), and HO. The main aim was to investigate the molecular basis for the nucleation delay during ALD of ZTO, observed when ZnO ALD is carried out after SnO ALD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArea-selective atomic layer deposition (AS-ALD) is attracting increasing interest because of its ability to enable both continued dimensional scaling and accurate pattern placement for next-generation nanoelectronics. Here we report a strategy for depositing material onto three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures with topographic selectivity using an ALD process with the aid of an ultrathin hydrophobic surface layer. Using ion implantation of fluorocarbons (CFx), a hydrophobic interfacial layer is formed, which in turn causes significant retardation of nucleation during ALD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe crystal structure of thin films grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) will determine important performance properties such as conductivity, breakdown voltage, and catalytic activity. We report the design of an atomic layer deposition chamber for in situ x-ray analysis that can be used to monitor changes to the crystal structural during ALD. The application of the chamber is demonstrated for Pt ALD on amorphous SiO2 and SrTiO3 (001) using synchrotron-based high resolution x-ray diffraction, grazing incidence x-ray diffraction, and grazing incidence small angle scattering.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report confinement of ferroelectric domain-wall motion at conducting-nanofilament wall in epitaxial BiFeO3 thin film on Nb-doped SrTiO3 substrate. The BiFeO3 film exhibited well-defined ferroelectric response and unipolar resistive switching behavior. We artificially formed conducting-nanofilaments in the BiFeO3 via conducting atomic force microscope techniques.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe investigated effects of the sputtered La-capping layer inserted between TiN and Hf-based dielectrics, HfO2 and HfSiO4/HfO2, mainly focusing on effective work function (EWF) and equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) changes by modulation of its thickness and post-metal annealing (PMA). The use of thin La capping up to 5 Å showed a linear flatband voltage (V(FB)) shift of -60 mV/Å, regardless of gate dielectrics. However, with the increase of the La thickness, a slight increase in EOT was observed for HfO2, whereas a negligible change in EOT was shown for the HfSiO4/HfO2 bilayer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe fabricated metallic nanostructures directly on Si substrates through a hybrid nanoprocess combining atomic layer deposition (ALD) and a self-assembled anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) nanotemplate. ALD Ru films with Ru(DMPD)(EtCp) as a precursor and O(2) as a reactant exhibited high purity and low resistivity with negligible nucleation delay and low roughness. These good growth characteristics resulted in the excellent conformality for nanometer-scale vias and trenches.
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