Precursor Development and Application for Atomic Layer Deposition

As a promising technique for thin film growth, atomic layer deposition (ALD) has been widely applied in various fields of microelectronics such as semiconductor, dielectric materials, metal electrode, and transparent conductive oxide as well as energy, display, and biotechnology. In the areas of electronics, the ALD technique needs appropriate precursors which have high vapor pressure, comparatively low deposition temperature, high deposition rate, and chemically and thermally stable during transportation from canister to deposition chamber. In many cases, the conventional metal complexes have been applied as precursors in ALD process without tuning the improvement of the characteristics to be required in device manufacture. We have focused on the development of the target-oriented suitable metal precursors on the molecular level design for thin film growth by ALD. During the new precursor development, we have succeeded in preparing the optimum compounds for ALD thin film technology. The metal precursors newly synthesized at KRICT have been successfully adapted to deposit metal and metal oxide thin films using ALD in our laboratory and other academic research groups. In this presentation we will talk about our research results of design and synthesis of new metal precursors and their application to electronic devices with ALD, specially focusing on the highly concentrated precursors in electronic device manufacture.