Cold Plasma for Atomic Scale Processes (ALD, ALE and ASD): from Fundamental to Process and Reactor Design

Abstract: 

The manufacture of nanoscale devices by the SC industry requires regular innovations in the shaping processes used to deposit and etch nanoscale layers. The SC industry is thus moving from the use of conventional “continuous” plasma processes such as Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) and Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) to the use of “cyclic” or “pulsed” plasma processes such as the use of atomic scale processes: Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and Atomic Layer Etching (ALE). 

The two atomic scale processes mentioned above can be thermally driven or plasma driven with the use of one or more plasma steps. There are many ways to play with the plasma (reactor design, process design, rf biasing...). These two atomic scale processes can also be combined to create a third atomic scale process: Area Selective Deposition (ASD).

With this presentation we will first review what cold plasma is and how it is used to process thin films. Then we'll discuss recent innovations (reactor and process design) and future requirements for nm-size transistors.

Bio:
 
Christophe Vallée received the Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of Nantes, Nantes, France, in 1999. He is currently a Professor at CNSE, University at Albany, USA. Till September 2020, he was a Professor at Grenoble Alpes University (France) and a visiting Professor at Tsukuba University (Japan, 2016-2020). His research activity focuses on plasma and atomic scale processes. He has authored or coauthored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications.