[labnetwork] low temperature ALD deposition

[Mac Hathaway]

Hi Esta,

Couple of things:

When you get down that low you are (presumably) approaching the 
precursor bottle temperature, so you have to be careful to maintain all 
internal wetted surfaces at (ideally) somewhat above the bottle 
temperature to avoid condensation of the precursor.  If condensation 
happens you can get somewhat granular CVD mode deposition, which I would 
expect would generate more particles than a typical ALD film.  The 
larger the internal surface area the more challenging it is to maintain 
good temperature uniformity (i.e. no cold spots).  100C should be okay.  
80C... getting pretty cool at that point.

Also, perhaps more likely, you can expect more flaking and particulates 
when you vigorously temperature cycle, like from 100C to 250C right after.

Maybe doing a bit of dep at an intermediate temp or some vigorous 
pump-purging during the heatup phase would help.

I think any dedicated system would be better since it would see less 
temperature cycling.  As for which one, I'd go with either an Arradiance 
Gemstar (more more sophisticated unit but still a good price and very 
good temperature control) or a Beneq R2.


Mac

Mac Hathaway

Senior Process and Systems Engineer

Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems

11 Oxford St.

Cambridge, MA02138

617-495-9012

On 12/2/2024 10:49 AM, Abelev, Esta wrote:
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> A group at our University is trying to deposit HfO2 at low 
> temperatures (80C and 100C) by ALD techniques.
>
> Currently, the group is using our Fiji200 instrument located in share 
> user cleanroom, unfortunately we have seen a lot of particulates after 
> those depositions, specially if the following user will deposit films 
> at much higher temperatures like 250C.
>
>  1. If anyone has an experience of low temp ALD depositions and can
>     advise on process conditions or some cleaning procedures, we can
>     implement to reduce post low temp particles. Please advice.
>  2. Parallel we are looking potentially purchasing a dedicated
>     instrument for low temp ALD deposition, if someone has an advice
>     on the instrument, please do? We were suggested maybe to go with
>     ANRIC Technologies tabletop unit, is someone familiar with this
>     vendor and their systems?
>
> Best, Esta
>
>
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