Picosun's new Picoflow(TM) Diffusion Enhancer Expands the Borders of ALD

ESPOO, Finland, August 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Picosun Oy, Finnish, globally operating manufacturer of top-quality Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) systems reports excellent deposition results with its new Picoflow™ diffusion enhancer feature. At customer sites in Asia and Europe, ultra-high conformality and uniformity ALD metal oxide thin films were deposited on extremely challenging high aspect ratio (HAR) trenches on silicon wafers and complicated microchannel structures on silicon chip.

The highest aspect ratios of the trenches were 1:300 and even 1:1000. In such deep structures conventional diffusion is not fast enough to carry the precursors to the bottom of the trench. Picosun's novel, innovative Picoflow™ diffusion enhancer feature lengthens the time the precursors stay in the reaction chamber ("stopped-flow") without risk of precursor back-diffusion to the inlets or particle formation. In addition to HAR structures, this feature is very useful also when coating powders or through-porous samples such as microchannel plates. Titanium dioxide film thickness variation down to only ±2 nm for 100 nm thick film has been achieved with Picoflow™ technology.

Microchannel silicon chips have several applications in e.g. microfluidistics, sensors and MEMS devices. With ALD thin films they can be protected, passivated or functionalized, changing the hydrophilicity, chemical, electrical or optical behaviour.

Silicon trench structures have a crucial function in today's micro- and nanoelectronics. The level of system integration and the amount of individual components in the devices has increased so much that the traditional 2D component stacking is not enough anymore. Therefore the production has moved towards 3D packaging where the components are piled on top of each other and the necessary connections are realized through so-called through-silicon-via (TSV) structures. TSVs are a prime example of trench structures and typically conductive metal films, seed layers or passivation layers are required to cover uniformly and conformally the insides of the trench. Picosun's Picoflow™ expands the possibilities of ALD in these new industrial applications for more efficient future electronics devices.

Picosun Oy is Finland-based, world-wide operating manufacturer of state-of-the-art ALD systems, representing continuity to almost four decades of pioneering, exclusive ALD reactor design and manufacturing. Picosun's global headquarters are located in Espoo, Finland, its production facilities in Kirkkonummi, Finland, its US headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, and its Asian headquarters in Singapore. Today, PICOSUN™ ALD tools are in continuous production and R&D use in numerous frontline industries and research organizations across four continents.