0:00:02   Hello. My name is Dane Linblad I'm one of the R and D. Scientists here at forage nano And today I
0:00:09   will be talking to you about the new LG processes we've been working on specifically designed for
0:00:17   coding wafers and parts and objects, which we refer to as L. D. Give you a little bit of background
0:00:26   about myself. I have been working in L. D for the last 10 years, predominantly over on the process
0:00:33   side of things. So actually running all the coatings and putting developing these new chemistries
0:00:40   and working with our engineering teams to design, develop equipment that makes makes a lot of these
0:00:48   coatings possible.
0:00:52   So as a quick overview, LV X refers to this fast deposition process that we that we're running
0:01:01   suited specifically for coding wafers, objects, parts and other lower surface area substrates. Now
0:01:09   these processes themselves running around 1/2 per cycle with really high precursor efficiency. So
0:01:17   this means that we can still get all those benefits of equality, ale decoding, but now we can run
0:01:24   them at film thicknesses that are typically reserved for other PVT process. And just want to note
0:01:33   that since these lbX processes are meant specifically for waivers and parts, it's um important to
0:01:41   say that they are distinctly different from the particle lb processes that forge nano has developed
0:01:48   for coding powders and other high services. Two.
0:01:55   So the key here behind these sub second cycle times lies in what we call the synchronously modulated
0:02:03   flow in draw L. D. Process for the S M F D. L. D. At its core, we still have the same basic
0:02:12   principles that govern all a all the processes. Yes. Sequential, self limiting surface reactions.
0:02:20   And you repeat these steps over and over again until you get to your desires. Something. The key
0:02:27   here though, is that inside of our reaction chamber were able to modulate or flow in such a way that
0:02:34   we can change their residence time of different gases as they pass over our substance. So to break
0:02:40   one of the EU's cycles down first, we have our pulse during the pulse precursor is being introduced
0:02:46   into the reaction space. And we're combining high precursor flow into the chamber with the low draw
0:02:53   out of the precursor container. And this gives you a higher partial pressure of precursor inside
0:03:01   your reaction space, which leads to shorter reaction times. And the well we're draw out of the
0:03:09   container leads to lower chemical consumption overall. And then next up we have the dose and the
0:03:19   dose acts as a sort of static hold where the flow out of their reaction space minimized and the
0:03:25   precursors are allowed to hang around and react with all the available services. And so as a result,
0:03:33   we're able to really maximize the precursor utilization and efficiency during each of the zeo half
0:03:39   reactions. And then finally we have the purge step where we use high flow and low pressure to really
0:03:49   sweep are inert gas through there at a really low residence time and get a really really fast purge
0:03:58   in between each of our have reactions. And so this chart over on the right here shows you in a
0:04:06   typical standard flow design reactor. The trade off you typically get between chemical utilization
0:04:16   and purge time as a function of your residents time. So here this curve is essentially showing us
0:04:21   that with really short residence times you have low chemical utilization but you can get away with
0:04:27   fast purge times whereas a longer residence time will give you better kIM usage. But your purge
0:04:34   times are real slow. And so this S M F. D. L. D process overcomes the trade off of having to choose
0:04:41   where you want to be along this curve by allowing us to modulate the flow through our reactors such
0:04:49   that during the dose we can have a real short we have a real long residence times evening in order
0:04:58   to allow the chemical to react with all of our available surfaces and a really short residence time
0:05:05   during our purred. So we can get those reactive gases out of there quickly in between steps.
0:05:14   So in addition to fast cycling times, the L. D. X. Systems and the SMS DLD process also allows to
0:05:23   run certain processes that we really otherwise wouldn't be able to run in a standard flow style
0:05:31   reactor. and one example of this is the we have dubbed catalyzing reactions for induced surface
0:05:39   process or the crisp process. And now this chris process essentially brings together multiple
0:05:47   precursors which when combined catalyzed the surface reaction to kind of give you a more reactive
0:05:53   species. And you would have had otherwise. For the example here I have is where we were using our
0:05:59   chris process to grow silicon dioxide L. D. And I have uh I have a Q. C. M. P. A lot over here which
0:06:09   illustrates your film growth with each L. D. Cycle. So each of these steps represents one full ale.
0:06:17   The cycle and the accumulated mass which is then translated over into an overall film thickness from
0:06:24   the QC. Um Crystal is is shown on the other asses.
0:06:32   And so what what we what we see here is our more traditional S. I. O. To process using di ethyl
0:06:39   amino silent or be Das and ozone isn't isn't giving us a whole lot of growth as this ale. The
0:06:50   process is repeated. However, when we come in with our chris process, we're Pretty reliably and
0:07:00   repeatedly getting just over about one ancient recycle with with the JlG Sehgal. And so that's just
0:07:10   11 example of the chris process offering more more reactive half reaction to the silicon reaction to
0:07:18   complete this S. I. O. To process. And you know, in in addition to giving us more reactive species,
0:07:27   that's the idea behind this chris process can also be used to really broadened the temperature
0:07:34   window at which some some of our other more traditional LD processes are run.
0:07:47   So the key here is basically the fast cycling and high throughput L. D. Is going to allow us to grow
0:07:54   solid informal films over intricate geometries on thickness is on the order of hundreds of
0:08:03   nanometers without without too many that too extensive of processing times.
0:08:11   And so here I have a picture of an S. I. O. To film that was grown on top of the steps structure.
0:08:19   And because we're growing L. D. Here, you can see that the film thickness is pretty much constant
0:08:28   all the way across this structure. Despite the despite the aspect ratio. And the plot over here on
0:08:37   the right is showing some of the reproducibility data that we've collected for for running films
0:08:48   through through this equipment. Um in this plot we essentially ran a bunch of waivers back to back
0:08:54   to back um each of them getting a 100 angstrom aluminum oxide coating. And this line here is showing
0:09:04   the overall thickness on each of these waivers and how it's really not varying much from 11 run to
0:09:11   the next. And then the points down here are showing the range within each with any to wait for that
0:09:18   was measured. Yeah,
0:09:25   so here's another example of one of the, one of the films we commonly put down. This is uh 200
0:09:34   nanometer barrier film that was likely used for environmental protection. And the image over here is
0:09:42   showing a cross section and highlighting void inside this part that we had coded and you know in in
0:09:52   this image you can see that this year is our lb coding and it's con formal all the way through the
0:09:59   edge inside of this voice. And if we look at the close up we can see all the distinct L. D. Layers
0:10:08   that we put down during this process. So right up here on the surface we have adhesion layer and
0:10:16   then on top of that we grew a nano imminent, which is essentially the alternating thicknesses of two
0:10:24   different LD chemistries. And that's what each of these striations is showing is when we flip from
0:10:30   one process to the next and back and forth and back and forth. And then here on the very top we have
0:10:38   this extra anti corrosion layer. And the one thing this image shows real nicely is how each one of
0:10:45   these layers follows the contours of the surface very nicely. In in the fashion that you would
0:10:54   expect from from a L. D.
0:10:59   Mhm. So now I wanna talk a little bit about the equipment that we're using to deposit some of these
0:11:06   films. And first up we have Apollo and now this is the tool you would use for your wafer to wafer
0:11:14   production has a wafer handling robot which allows you to do pathetic set operation. There's a load
0:11:21   lock so that the L. D. Chamber is never exposed to atmosphere. You know, this cuts down on
0:11:28   maintenance inside the reactor helps to keep your reactor space particle free. The chamber has an
0:11:36   integrated abatement system that will react away any of your unused precursor, which prevents you
0:11:43   from slowing it down into the pump and the end of a. This is this is the tool that you want to stone
0:11:50   a fab so that you can throw down ellie coatings on one waver after the next, after the next and uh
0:11:58   in a sort of production setting.
0:12:03   So next up we have to Now this is a smaller tool whose focus is really on research and development
0:12:11   and bringing up new LD processes or testing out your new film on different parts of ST. It has the
0:12:21   same fast led process as the other tool, but this one is specifically built with customization and
0:12:30   configurability in mind. The led manifold itself is housed inside of a convicted reheated box,
0:12:38   meaning that you get really good temperature uniformity for every pain up inside there. So for
0:12:45   example, if you're working with a really low favorite pressure preachers or that needs to be heated
0:12:50   to relatively high temperatures, you can pop it inside this, convicted we heated box and get it up
0:12:57   to temperature there without any worry of cold spots or compensation on your way down to the
0:13:03   manifold and into the reactor. And with this tool, the reaction chamber itself can actually be
0:13:10   configured for coding wafers or parts or components, you know, depending depending on what you need.
0:13:16   Uh The tooling itself is field serviceable and really can be configured in all sorts of different
0:13:24   ways.
0:13:27   And then finally Here we have he meows. This tool has a real big 22" by 6" reactor which you can use
0:13:36   to fit large parts or fixtures that are holding a variety of different parts. And you know, this
0:13:43   tools, main focus is really on industrial coding application, essentially putting down a lot of film
0:13:49   on a lot of parts in a short amount of time. And it's got it's got similar onboard chemical
0:13:58   abatement so that you're not sending to, you're not sending reactive precursors straight to your
0:14:04   home. And this tool actually has maintenance intervals of around 500 microns of accumulated groups.
0:14:16   So you can get you can get a lot of coatings down in there without without having to tear it apart,
0:14:22   perform service inside.
0:14:27   Mhm. And so in general that's uh that's a quick overview on the L. D. X. Processes that we've been
0:14:37   working on here At 14 I know and if you are interested in reading about any of the applications that
0:14:48   we've applied these films to or if you want to see how how effective they are in in different spaces
0:14:54   and head on over to our website. And we've got a bunch of short and sweet little white papers and
0:15:01   application notes that that will tell you all about these films and processes use. And with that,
0:15:10   I'd like to thank you for your time and I hope you all enjoy the rest of the A. C. Summit.