Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is renowned for its unmatched ability to deposit conformal thin films inside porous and high aspect ratio substrates. This capability has made ALD a critical technique in microelectronics, particularly for applications requiring thin and highly conformal coatings in complex structures, such as DRAM, 3D-NAND, and gate-all-around transistors. As technology advances, the demand for highly conformal deposition has expanded to new areas, including energy generation, energy storage, catalysis, and membranes. These emerging applications often necessitate large-scale, high-throughput manufacturing processes, like roll-to-roll processing, to remain cost-efficient. However, conventional ALD faces challenges when combining high-throughput processing with highly porous substrates, where extended exposure and purge times are typically required.
Spatial ALD presents a promising solution to this challenge. Unlike conventional ALD, where precursors are introduced sequentially to form a monolayer on a substrate, spatial ALD introduces a novel approach by physically separating the precursor and co-reactant in space. This spatial separation allows for faster and more flexible deposition, making it particularly suitable for large-scale manufacturing processes while maintaining the precise control over film thickness and uniformity that ALD is known for.
