Blog

Selecting the correct thermal evaporation source can sometimes prove difficult. There are several factors that will need to be considered when doing so.

Dr. Zhigang Xiao, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Alabama A&M University, in collaboration with the ALD group in the Kurt J. Lesker Company recently developed the plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition process and grow high dielectric constant (K) oxide for the application of electronic materials. They grew nanoscale hafnium dioxide (HfO₂) and zirconium dioxide (ZrO₂) thin films using remote plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) and fabricated complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuits using the HfO₂ and ZrO₂ thin films as the gate oxide. Miniaturization in modern semiconductor industry requires thin film deposition to have atomic level control and the deposited film to be conformal and pinhole-free. As MOSFETs are scaled down to nanometer sizes, the tunneling currents through the gate dielectrics (the gate leakage current) has become a major concern in today’s fabrication of integrated circuits (ICs). High-K dielectric metal oxide could be a solution to the problem of the gate leakage current. The plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition of HfO₂ and ZrO₂ thin films meets the requirement and can produce conformal and ultra-thin films with precise thickness control at the atomic layer level. The experimental results measured from the HfO₂ and ZrO₂ thin films were compared.

Selecting the correct crucible liner for your e-gun can sometimes be challenging. Here are some things to consider...

There are many reasons that sputtering targets fail. Some are material specific, while others can be avoided or prolonged by reviewing a few things before sputtering begins.

A common question from our materials customers is how they can reduce the cost of depositing precious metals. Our Materials Product Manager, Katie McGough recommends some of the ways you can avoid overspending unnecessarily on precious metals such as through using a reclaim service or using thinner targets.

After an extended shut-down it may be time to re-start your Kurt Lesker built thin film deposition system. A detailed re-start procedure for systems equipped with our eKLipse control software can be found below. This procedure provides a detailed description of the steps required to safely return our deposition systems to full operation.

By far one of the most common questions that we receive from various users is how to thermally evaporate Aluminum. Aluminum is very commonly evaporated for various applications and can be somewhat problematic. Through some internal experience and through with working with various customers, we recommend two ways to approach thermal evaporation of aluminum.

Dr. Kai Ni from the research group of Professor Suman Datta, Stinson Professor of Nanotechnology at the University of Notre Dame, in collaboration with Purdue University and Kurt J. Lesker Company recently developed conformal atomic layer deposition (ALD) based hafnium zirconium oxide thin film processes displaying excellent electrical properties for potential gate oxide complement or replacement in scaled logic and memory technology nodes. The findings were recently published and showcased in the IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) 2019 in San Francisco, CA [ref. 1]. In particular, hafnium zirconium oxide (Hf_xZr_1-xO₂, or HZO) has emerged as a ferroelectric (large charge density per unit area) material system that also displays a tunable permittivity or dielectric constant (charge response) depending on the concentration of Zr added to the base HfO2 oxide. The reported films indicate that by sweeping the concentration of Zr in HfO₂ during the ALD growth, a substantial boost in the dielectric constant can be observed around 70% Zr concentration due to the presence of a crystallographic phase transition of the underlying HZO material structure, which results in enhanced electrical performance even in ultrathin films 25Å thick [ref. 2]. These findings elucidate the necessity and importance of extremely stringent deposition process control along with corresponding electrical and structural characterization for the understanding of new materials systems for their further implementation in commercial applications such as high-performance digital and analog CMOS technology at advanced nodes.

In a recently issued patent (US 10,619,950 April 14, 2020) researchers at the Toyota Motor Company have demonstrated that the corrosion resistance of stainless steel exhaust systems for cars and trucks can be substantially improved by heat treatment in high vacuum. Stainless steel is a complex metal alloy of iron, nickel, chrome and other elements. It is known to be a very durable metal but even this robust material can be corroded by exposure to chloride ions, sulfuric and hydrochloric acids, soot and other artifacts of the exhaust from an internal combustion engine. Reaction with these aggressive gases causes pits in steel which eventually lead to premature failure. The use of low-grade fuels speeds the degradation of exhaust systems.

As a Product Manager in the Materials Division, I field a lot of questions from customers from many different industries with varying degrees of sputtering experience. One of the more common emails that I receive goes something along the lines of, "There's something wrong with my bonding because the indium has melted out of the sides of my target." Often times the user has waited for their target, spent money on it, only to use it one time and had to stop due to the melted bond. A frustrating situation for sure.