[labnetwork] ALD survey

[Hathaway, Malcolm]

Hi Karl,

This is Mac Hathaway, at Harvard CNS.  We started out with a Cambridge Nanotech Savannah 200, 8" capable, with 6 ports (enough for 5 different ALD films, plus water as the secondary precursor).  It works quite well, but has some limitations, such as (for us) the number of ports, and "serviceability" of the gas delivery system.  For what is a very simple system, some maintenance tasks are two person jobs.  Cost was ~$180K (~$120K for 4" with only two ports).  Still going strong after 5 years.  Mostly all we do is change pumps, oring, and very occasionally parts of the gas delivery system (pneumatic valves and ALD valves). 

For reference, Cambridge Nano is now part of Ultratech.

We have now gotten (in the cleanroom, but not open to users yet) an Arradiance desktop system,  It is a slightly modified GEMStar 8.  This unit is quite small, 8 ports, 6" capable, and in standard configuration currently around $120K.  This unit is designed to allow better heating uniformity, and somewhat better gas flow dynamics.  It turns out that "ideal" ALD processes are quite immune to lots of "CVD" variables like chamber geometry, and flow dynamics, but many non-ideal processes do benefit from more careful control of such variables.

As it happens, CNS hosted an NNIN ALD Symposium at the end of Nov. last year, and the presentations for it are on our website:    http://cns.harvard.edu/research/presentations.php

You will find quite a bit of interesting info going through those presentations.  Most NNIN folks have either Savannahs, a few Cambridge Nano plasma/thermal systems, or Oxford Instruments plasma/thermal systems.  The Arradiance unit is just starting to get market penetration.  As a rule, the thermal systems are the cheaper, smaller units, and the plasma enabled systems tend to be bigger, and cost $300K and up.

Feel free to contact me off-line if you have more questions.

Mac
Harvard CNS
617-495-9012
________________________________________
From: labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu [labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu] On Behalf Of Karl Hirschman [kdhemc at rit.edu]
Sent: Saturday, March 02, 2013 12:24 PM
To: labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
Subject: [labnetwork] ALD survey

Hello Labnetwork,

We are currently searching for an ALD system that has the flexibility to meet the needs of multiple users, but is on the lower end of pricing.  I realize that these attributes are typically not well aligned, however we have limited internal funding support.  I have been exploring ALD systems offered by a number of vendors.  There are a few systems that appear to be good candidates – some are upgradable to offer enhanced capabilities, while others are not.  We are targeting a system that can accommodate up to 6-inch substrates, and is in the < $200K price range.  Initial films of interest are Al2O3, HfO2 and ZnO. however we expect interest in other applications.

I have been searching websites, and I have found several of these systems placed in university labs.  I would like to ask these universities for their opinion of the system they have, and some of the details that went into their decision on the system they have over the other systems in the market.  If there is a survey available for these systems, perhaps prepared for a proposal, this would be especially useful.

Thanks for the help!


Dr. Karl D. Hirschman, Micron Professor
Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering Department
Director, Semiconductor & Microsystems Fabrication Laboratory
Rochester Institute of Technology
82 Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester, NY  14623-5604
PH: 585-475-5130
FAX: 585-475-5041
kdhemc at rit.edu<mailto:kdhemc at rit.edu>
http://smfl.microe.rit.edu<http://smfl.microe.rit.edu/>