Advanced process technologies: Plasma, direct-write, atmospheric pressure, and roll-to-roll ALD

As applications of atomic layer deposition (ALD) in emerging areas such as nanoelectronics, photovoltaics, and flexible electronics expand beyond single-wafer semiconductor processing, there is a growing need for novel approaches to integrate new process designs, substrate materials, and substrate delivery methods. An overview is given of new means to extend the capabilities of ALD and to improve the speed and simplicity of ALD coatings using new reactor designs. These include energy-enhanced and spatial ALD schemes involving plasma, direct-write, atmospheric pressure, and roll-to-roll processing. The long-term goal of this work is to integrate viable high-throughput capabilities with ALD processes.