Plasma-assisted atomic layer deposition of ultrathin oxide and metal films

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a thin film deposition method based on alternating saturated surface chemical reactions in which the self-limiting growth behavior allows for the deposition of ultrathin films with submonolayer control and with a high conformality on demanding 3D surface topologies. Since recently, the extension of the technique with plasma processes is actively being researched. These so-called plasma-assisted ALD (or plasma-enhanced ALD) processes can provide several potential benefits over thermal ALD such as (i) an enhanced growth rate, (ii) improved material properties, (iii) wider variety of thin film materials and properties, (iv) more process versatility, and (v) lower deposition temperatures (down to room temperature). These benefits make plasma-assisted ALD an attractive method for several applications also outside the traditional field of the semiconductor industry