- ALD belongs to the family of chemical vapor deposition methods (CVD). It was initially developed for manufacturing nano-laminate insulators and zinc sulfide phosphor films for thin film electroluminescent displays. The unique properties of the coatings, together with the high repeatability, were the main factors leading to successful industrial production.
- The ALD deposition technique is based upon the sequential use of a gas phase chemical process. Gases are used to grow the films onto the substrate within a vacuum chamber. Through the repeated exposure to alternating gases there is a buildup of a thin film through deposition.
- ALD has several advantages in its use. For example, the process is self-Limiting, the films are perfectly conformal, they are pinhole free and the process allows layers or laminates.
- Along with advantages are a few key considerations. They include the substrate has to be of a high purity, the price of the systems are not low, the process tends to be very slow and the masking process for ALD has to be perfect.
- The ultra-thin films can be grown onto virtually any substrate. They have been demonstrated on highly patterned wafers, polymer films, and fine powders of most compositions. ALD is used in many different areas including microelectronics, semiconductors, photovoltaics, biotechnology, biomedical, LEDs, optics and fuel cell system technologies.
Need to find out more?
For further information on ALD and its performance then contact us directly or check out our section on Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD).
If you are new to Nexus and our work on conformal coatings then a good place to go is our Start Here page.
