Time as the Fourth Dimension: Opening up New Possibilities in Chemical Vapor Deposition

Abstract

Thin films of inorganic materials are essential to several technologies we take for granted in our everyday lives. They form the basis of touch screens in smart phones and the electronic components in computers. Dating back more than a century, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is one of the most common methods to form these films. In CVD, the atoms needed for the thin film are typically supplied by a continuous flow of gaseous precursor molecules and incorporated into the film by gas phase and surface chemical reactions. The continuous demand for more precise thin film fabrication on more complex shapes at lower temperatures sets a demand for more advanced CVD methods. The development of better designed precursor molecules is one important path to evolve CVD, the other path is to evolve the way in which we do CVD. In this perspective I will describe how using time as a fourth dimension in CVD can enable fabrication of new thin film materials and material structures at lower temperatures and on more complex substrate geometries by accessing new types of CVD chemistries available in time-resolved CVD.

An innovative GC-MS, NMR and ESR combined, gas-phase investigation during chemical vapor deposition of silicon oxynitrides films from tris(dimethylsilyl)amine

“…However, control and consequently modeling, simulation and ultimately optimization of these complex-in-chemistry processes require comprehensive insight in the gas and surface chemistries. 31 For this reason, a coupled solid and gas phase analysis proves to be useful in determining potential starting precursors and experimental conditions for the formation of functional films at the lowest possible deposition temperature, as well as in formulating kinetic models for eventual process optimization through utilization of computational fluid dynamics simulations.…”

On the dynamics in chemical vapor deposition of InN

“…From these results in the literature, and from our results presented above, we suggest that time is an important parameter which modulates reaction mechanism its dynamics and strongly influences the deposited InN quality. 37,38 An ALD process needs to be done at relative low temperature to ensure the stability of the chemisorbed monolayer, and therefore need sufficiently long purge time to eliminate unwanted chemical reactions of physiosorbed molecules. As our ALD work presented above was done in a temperature range higher than the typical InN ALD window of 150-300 °C , 21,22,[38][39][40][41] and considering the difference in film deposition at different temperatures observed in Figs.…”

Area Selective Chemical Vapor Deposition of Metallic Films using Plasma Electrons as Reducing Agents

“…A schematic of the different processes and possible chemical interactions in PECVD [9]. The figure is modified with an inspiration from [22].…”