High-speed spatial Atomic Layer Deposition

A novel disruptive concept in Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), developed by Dutch research organization TNO, can achieve breakthrough ultrafast Al2O3 deposition rates of 1 nm/s (currently limited to 0.1 nm/s). Using spatial ALD, instead of temporal (i.e. time-switched) ALD, TNO researchers deposit 30 nm of Al2O3 in 30 seconds. Compared to 20 minutes in an R&D single-wafer reactor, this opens up a wide range of industrial-scale applications with high industrial throughput and cost-effective manufacturing. A very promising application is to improve solar cell efficiency by depositing Al2O3 as a backside passivation layer.