Leveraging plasma has made ALE a thousand times faster than earlier approaches.
Atomic layer etching (ALE) is the most advanced etching technique in production today. In this Perspective, we describe ALE in comparison to long-standing conventional etching techniques, relating it to the underlying principles behind the ancient art of etching. Once considered too slow, we show how leveraging plasma has made ALE a thousand times faster than earlier approaches. While Si is the case study ALE material, prospects are better for strongly bound materials such as C, Ta, W, and Ru. Among the ALE advantages discussed, we introduce an ALE benefit with potentially broad application—the ALE smoothing effect—in which the surface flattens. Finally, regarding its well-established counterpart of atomic layer deposition (ALD), we discuss the combination of ALE and ALD in tackling real world challenges at sub-10 nm technology nodes.
To read more, click here.
This article was published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry
J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2018, 9, 4814−4821
Experts at the Table, part 1: Shrinking features isn’t enough anymore. The big challenge now is how to achieve economies of scale and minimize complex integration issues.
Rising costs and gaps in equipment emerge as technology scales; new tools under development.
Explosion of data is forcing significant changes in where processing is done.
EUV is the clear winner down to 5nm, but what comes after that may be a combination of tools and techniques.
New market opportunities and global competitiveness are limited by qualified people.
Researchers digging into ways around the von Neumann bottleneck.
The promise of advanced packaging is being able to integrate heterogeneous chips, but a lot of work is needed to make that happen.
Better algorithms and more data could bolster adoption, particularly at advanced nodes.
30 facilities planned, including 10/7nm processes, but trade war and economic factors could slow progress.
New architectures, packaging approaches gain ground as costs increase, but shrinking features continues to play a role.
Improvement still needed for uptime, defectivity, line edge roughness and process flows.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Leave a Reply