Available Technology
Vapor deposition of silica nanolaminates makes extremely smooth and highly conformal silica thin films with excellent step coverage
Technology:
Atomic layer deposition (ALD) method
Markets Addressed
This invention concerns a very efficient atomic layer deposition (ALD) method to make extremely smooth and highly conformal silica thin films with excellent step coverage. As microelectronic circuits become more and more dense, with decreasing distances between active elements and interconnects, better methods of laying down dielectrics as insulation are required to retain performance. Applications are well suited for semiconductor manufacturing.
Innovations and Advantages
This invention is a better method. Prior art ALD methods, while known to produce highly conformal thin films, are also known to be very slow and inefficient with each round of deposition resulting in a layer of less than a nanometer thickness thus requiring many rounds of deposition. This invention can in one round of ALD put down a layer of 2 - 15 nm, thus significantly increasing the efficiency, while able to put down thin films that conform closely to sidewalls of structures, such as trenches and holes, with an aspect ratio of greater than 40:1. This technology should be useful for all conceivable generations of ICs. The invention facilitates the production of many devices, such as filling trench insulation between transistors in microelectronics, insulating the collars of deep trench capacitors in semiconductor memories, forming insulation between the metal wires in microelectronic devices, sealing low-k semi-porous insulators for electronic devices, making planar waveguides, multiplexers/demultiplexers, microelectromechanical structures (MEMS), multilayer optical filters, and protective layers against diffusion, oxidation or corrosion.
Additional Information
Intellectual Property Status: The invention is further described in the published PCT patent application (PCT/US03/09736)
Publication:
Hausmann et al., Science, 298, 402-405, 2002.
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Inventor(s):
Becker, Jill
Gordon, Roy G.
Hausmann, Dennis
Suh, Seigi
Categories:
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering
- Materials
- Nanotechnology
- Semiconductors
- Specialty Chemicals/Chemistry
For further information, please contact:
Mick Sawka, Director of Business Development
(617) 496-3830
Reference Harvard Case #1824