Area Selective Atomic Layer Deposition by Microcontact Printing with a Water-Soluble Polymer

Abstract

The use of a water-soluble polymer for area selective atomic layer deposition (ALD) with microcontact printing (μCP) has been studied. Polymethacrylamide (PMAM) was spin-coated and patterned onto substrates of silicon by μCP , generating patterns down to 2μm in size. The resist properties were tested against Pt ALD. The results show that films of Pt were grown selectively on the PMAM-free regions and significantly blocked in the presence of the polymer. Scanning electron microscopy and scanning Auger electron spectroscopy showed sharp pattern transfer of PMAM and good propagation of the pattern into the Pt layer. The PMAM layer was simply removed just by dipping in water. After the removal process, the PMAM-coated surface exhibited the same properties as the original SiO2 surface. The use of PMAM as an ALD resist offers good selectivity and high spatial resolution and provides a new, convenient route toward achieving spatially patterned film growth.

Nanoscale selective area atomic layer deposition of TiO2using e-beam patterned polymers

“…Polymer lms present an alternative way to prepare defect free masking layers which physically screen the active sites on the substrate and enable AS-ALD process. 24,[49][50][51] Indeed, polymer lms with several critical advantages including quick and easy coating, defect free lm quality, and ease of patterning have been implemented in majority of the lithographic patterning processes. In this scenario, if one can identify a polymer or a group of polymers that are unreactive towards ALD precursors which can also be easily patterned and removed aer the growth, then that polymer lm can be potentially used as a blocking layer to achieve AS-ALD process.…”

“…AS-ALD of TiO 2 , CeO 2 , ZnO, N-doped ZnO, Ru, Rh, and Pt have been demonstrated using various polymer layers as growth inhibitor. 24,25,31,[49][50][51][52][53][54] ALD-grown lms might start nucleating on the polymer blocking layer aer a certain number of ALD-cycles; patterning of such lms are demonstrated via conventional lioff processes. Al 2 O 3 , TiO 2 , ZnO, ZrO 2 , HfO 2 , CeO 2 , and Co have been patterned using polymer layers as li-off resist lms.…”

Maximizing the short circuit current of organic solar cells by partial decoupling of electrical and optical properties

“…So far few studies have been published on the conformal deposition of organic films on 3D textured substrates. However, promising initial results have been demonstrated for the deposition of organic films by chemical vapor deposition (Loscutoff et al 2010), molecular deposition techniques (Mullings et al 2010;Räupke et al 2013), and vapor phase deposition (OVPD) (Yang and Forrest 2006;Yang et al 2005).…”

Advances in the deposition chemistry of metal-containing thin films using gas phase processes

“…Mullings et al 94 have used a patterned SAM of polymethacrylamide (PMAM) with microcontact printing (mCP) to efficiently block the ALD of Pt. Because of its solubility in water, the simple removal of PMAM by dipping in water presents a significant advantage.…”