5 October 2011

SENTECH launches plasma-enhanced ALD system

Based on many years of experience in developing and manufacturing plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and inductively coupled PECVD (ICPECVD) equipment (including the proprietary planar triple spiral antenna ICP source), SENTECH Instruments GmbH of Berlin, Germany has launched its first PEALD (plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition) system.

PEALD is a method of extending the capabilities of ALD by applying radical gas species rather than water as oxidizer during the deposition process.

The new ALD system enables both thermal and plasma-assisted operation and deposition monitoring using SENTECH’s ellipsometers. The firm offers ultra-fast in-situ ellipsometers for monitoring layer-by-layer film growth, applying laser ellipsometry as well as wide range spectroscopic ellipsometry.

The first PEALD system has already started operation at Germany’s Technische Universität Braunschweig (TU Braunschweig) for the deposition of extremely uniform and dense thin oxide films such as Al2O3 and ZnO. For the deposition of Al2O3, TMA (C3H9Al) and plasma-generated atomic oxygen (O) were used at substrate temperatures of 80-200°C.

SENTECH says that the PEALD films exhibit excellent thickness uniformity and very small variation in refractive index (measured with spectroscopic ellipsometers).

Tags: Plasma-enhanced ALD

Visit: www.sentech.de