Recommended reading list of early publications on atomic layer deposition-Outcome of the "Virtual Project on the History of ALD"

Atomic layer deposition (ALD), a gas-phase thin film deposition technique based on repeated, self-terminating gas-solid reactions, has become the method of choice in semiconductor manufacturing and many other technological areas for depositing thin conformal inorganic material layers for various applications. ALD has been discovered and developed independently, at least twice, under different names: atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) and molecular layering. ALE, dating back to 1974 in Finland, has been commonly known as the origin of ALD, while work done since the 1960s in the Soviet Union under the name "molecular layering" (and sometimes other names) has remained much less known. The virtual project on the history of ALD (VPHA) is a volunteer-based effort with open participation, set up to make the early days of ALD more transparent. In VPHA, started in July 2013, the target is to list, read and comment on all early ALD academic and patent literature up to 1986. VPHA has resulted in two essays and several presentations at international conferences. This paper, based on a poster presentation at the 16th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition in Dublin, Ireland, 2016, presents a recommended reading list of early ALD publications, created collectively by the VPHA participants through voting. The list contains 22 publications from Finland, Japan, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States. Up to now, a balanced overview regarding the early history of ALD has been missing; the current list is an attempt to remedy this deficiency. (C) 2016 Author(s).Peer reviewe

Thermal stability of Zr-O-N(:Ti) thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering

Metallic oxynitrides are materials of interest, since they represent the combination between the properties of the respective nitrides and oxides. The thermal stability of the oxynitride films is important for different applications, but it has to be differentiated from oxidation resistance. For this evaluation, x-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns have been acquired in situ during heating under two different atmospheres selected to avoid external oxidation (vacuum and a He/H2 mixture). Such tests were performed on selected Zr-O-N films presenting different chemical compositions and phases (metal-rich N-deficient nitride, (oxy)nitride, and O-rich disordered oxynitride). The influence of the addition of Ti has been studied in films including also TiN-like phases. To facilitate the phase identification, the intensity of the different peaks in the XRD patterns was tuned to highlight the weaker ones. In addition, the intensity of representative peaks of the main phases has been monitored to represent the overall behavior under heating. It has been found that the structure of the films evolves to the formation of ZrO2, the phase with tetragonal symmetry at lower temperature and the monoclinic one at higher temperature. Films including Ti showed an improved thermal stability, without the formation of the monoclinic oxide even at 1000 ºC.The financial support of Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT), under the project number IF/00671/2013 is gratefully acknowledged

Atomic layer deposition of vanadium oxides: process and application review

Atomic layer deposition (ALD)is a method of choice for the growth of highly conformal thin films with accurately controlled thickness on planar and nanostructured surfaces. These advantages make it pivotal for emerging nanotechnology applications. This review sheds light on the current developments on the ALD of vanadium oxide, which, with proper postdeposition treatment yields a variety of functional and smart oxide phases. The application of vanadium oxide coatings in electrochemical energy storage, microelectronics and smart windows are emphasized

Optimizations of pulsed plated p and n-type Bi₂Te₃-based ternary compounds by annealing in different ambient atmospheres

This work presents a comprehensive study of the fabrication and optimization of electrodeposited p- and n-type thermoelectric films. The films are deposited on Au and stainless steel substrates over a wide range of deposition potentials. The influence of the preparative parameters such as the composition of the electrolyte bath and the deposition potential are investigated. Furthermore, the p-doped (BixSb1-x)2Te3 and the n-doped Bi2(TexSe1-x)3 films are annealed for a period of about 1 h under helium and under tellurium atmosphere at 250 degrees C for 60h. Annealing in He already leads to significant improvements in the thermoelectric performance. Furthermore, due to the equilibrium conditions during the process, annealing in Te atmosphere leads to a strongly improved film composition, charge carrier density and mobility. The Seebeck coefficients increase to values up to +182 mu V K-1 for p-doped and130 mu V K-1 for n-doped materials at room temperature. The power factors also exhibit improvements with 1320 mu W m-1 K-2 and 820 mu W m-1 K-2 for p-doped and n-doped films, respectively. Additionally, in-situ XRD measurements performed during annealing of the films up to 600K under He atmosphere show stepwise improvements of the crystal structure leading to the improvements in thermoelectric parameters. The thermal conductivity is between 1.2 W m-1 K-1 and 1.0 W m-1 K-1

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Co\Pt bilayers on ALD HfO2

Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy (PMA) is a key requirement for state of the art Magnetic Random Access Memories (MRAM). Currently, PMA has been widely reported in standard Magnetic Tunnel Junction material stacks using MgO as a dielectric. In this contribution, we present the first report of PMA at the interface with a high-kappa dielectric grown by Atomic Layer Deposition, HfO2. The PMA appears after annealing a HfO2\Co\Pt\Ru stack in N-2 with the K-eff of 0.25 mJ/m(2) as determined by Vibrating Sample Magnetometry. X-Ray Diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscopy show that the appearance of PMA coincides with interdiffusion and the epitaxial ordering of the Co\Pt bilayer. High-kappa dielectrics are especially interesting for Voltage Control of Magnetic Anisotropy applications and are of potential interest for low-power MRAM and spintronics technologies. Published by AIP Publishing