Nanofabrication via Maskless Localized Atomic Layer Deposition of Patterned Nanoscale Metal Oxide Films

Abstract

A modified open-air spatial atomic layer deposition (SALD) head is employed to fabricate complex oxide patterns on various substrates. The coreactant being kept in the surrounding atmosphere, a simple injection head that consists of three concentric nozzles with only one precursor outlet has been designed. Easy and reversible modification in the diameter of the metal precursor outlet permits direct patterning with different lateral sizes. Maskless deposition of uniform and homogenous TiO 2 and ZrO 2 thin films is successfully demonstrated with a lateral resolution tuned from millimeters to hundred micrometers range while keeping the film thickness in the range of a few to hundreds of nanometers with a control at the nanoscale. This localized SALD approach, named LOCALD, also enables layer stacking and deposition on structured substrates.

Assessing the Environmental Impact of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) Processes and Pathways to Lower It

“…Muñoz-Rojas’ team has, for example, shown that a head based on concentric channels can be used to deposit free-from patterns with resolution in x-y in the order of the cm . Other teams have later shown that it is possible to reach micrometric resolution. , In fact, SALD/CVD approaches offer a huge potential for the fast fabrication of miniaturized complex patterns at a high rate with reduced energy demands. , …”

“…135,136 In fact, SALD/ CVD approaches offer a huge potential for the fast fabrication of miniaturized complex patterns at a high rate with reduced energy demands. 128,137 As discussed in section 2.4,, both modeling and in situ characterization are powerful tools to optimize the amount of precursor injected. Modeling has already been extensively used to optimize different SALD processes 132,138−145 and could be readily applied toward the optimization of precursor utilization.…”

Atmospheric-pressure atomic layer deposition: recent applications and new emerging applications in high-porosity/3D materials

“…29,72 More recently, researchers have demonstrated the possibility to direct surface patterning via a simple versatile miniaturized open-air s-ALD head, which is developed by additive manufacturing. 71,73,76 With such a technique, true direct printing of complex patterns with a lateral resolution of submillimeters is successfully achieved in a miniaturized nozzle. One example is the ATLANT3D™ technology developed by ATLANT3D.…”

Nanometric 3D Printing of Functional Materials by Atomic Layer Deposition

“…Here again, the resolution of the obtained patterns in X-Y depends on the head design and the possibility to scale it down. Indeed, the latter work by Midani et al presented a similar concept in which sub-millimiter resolution was achieved by inserting a capillary in the central metal precursor channel of the SALD pen [45].…”