0:00:17  Thank you for watching this presentation. My name’s Staci Moulton. And I’ll be talking about 
0:00:23 A L D X And P. A. L. D. Equipment and the processes for atomic layer deposition on powders, wafers
0:00:31 and objects.
0:00:34 So my background is in powder atomic layer deposition. But I have a PhD using that L. D. Process
0:00:41 that I received from the University of Colorado boulder as well as an M. B. A. From Denver. My
0:00:49 position at forge Nano is director of field application engineering and my role is to help our
0:00:55 customers determine the likelihood of commercial success for their products and what is the path To
0:01:01 get them there. I have over 10 years of experience in commercialization of LD applications and have
0:01:10 worked on several projects including I Corps Training for Technology commercialization. Please feel
0:01:17 free to reach out to me after this presentation by either email or phone call. We’re happy to talk
0:01:23 about opportunities for A. L. D. And use of our equipment.
0:01:29 So first I want to highlight, please attend our advanced surface engineering Summit that will be
0:01:35 held later this week, June 9th, 10th and 11th of 2021. This is a three day free event which focuses
0:01:44 on both powder atomic layer depositions and L. D. Uses in general. Um and then the 3rd day has an
0:01:52 industry round table. So we’re really looking forward to hosting this event. It is completely hosted
0:01:58 by forge nano free and we look forward to talking with people and hosting other uh researchers
0:02:05 presentations about L. D.
0:02:09 So first a little bit of background about forge nano were located in Colorado and right near those
0:02:15 beautiful rocky mountains and the foothills right here, you can see the flatter outside of boulder.
0:02:24 So in 2024 June Nano emerged. Three LD companies located in Colorado together to be the one
0:02:33 powerhouse of L. D. In the U. S. Located in colorado. So the three companies were LD nano solutions
0:02:41 who focused on powder atomic layer deposition technologies and applications in a wide variety of
0:02:48 opportunities. Uh as well as fortunate who focused on commercialization of powder L. D. Technologies
0:02:56 and some new technologies who developed a fast and efficient L. D. Equipment for wafer and object
0:03:05 applications. So these three companies, we all moved into one single facility and are all forged
0:03:13 nano were located in thornton colorado. And forge nano itself was founded in 2013. But Alien Nano
0:03:22 solutions and son do technologies were both founded back in the early 2000s, Forge Nano itself has
0:03:30 now well over 50 employees And we are in that 38,000 square feet uh square foot facility in Fort in
0:03:38 colorado. Our company’s mission is to become become the world leader of innovative innovative
0:03:45 material solutions.
0:03:50 So in order to do that, we are an end to end solutions provider for materials that is both R and D
0:03:57 services all the way to commercial manufacturing equipment sales. So we can either develop products
0:04:04 with you or sell you equipment, R and D equipment, which will be talking about today to develop
0:04:11 technologies yourself in the process of getting to the full scale manufacturing equipment. We do
0:04:20 offer toll coding from that grams to kill tons level of production capability in house at forge nano.
0:04:29 And then we offer commercial equipment for both R and D. Up to very large kilotons per day
0:04:35 production levels. And the opportunity that you get by working with forge nano and working with our
0:04:43 equipment is even if you purchase the small scale R and D equipment and develop a technology. If
0:04:50 it’s developed on our tools, we have the knowledge of how to commercialize and get two large scale
0:04:56 production from our equipment.
0:05:01 So this should be well versed for everybody here at L. D. Japan. But atomic layer deposition is a
0:05:08 self self limited sequential deposition of thin films and a single atomic layer by atomic layer. Uh
0:05:17 It is analogous to a bricklaying process where you bring in one reactant uh shown here by these
0:05:24 green bricks and then a second react and shown by the blue bricks. And in that process you react on
0:05:31 the surface, being self limited with a functional site on the surface. Then you remove that
0:05:36 precursor and introduce the next you can continue those cycles to build up all of your wall of
0:05:42 bricks or in the process of actual molecules here showing aluminum, alumina, aluminum oxide. In the
0:05:53 two different half reactions of tri metal, aluminum and water. And the purge step in between. So
0:06:00 those two half reactions come together to deposit Ale 203 aluminum oxide. This entire process is
0:06:08 spontaneous. Uh This isn’t a thermal A. L. D. Process um and it is self limiting. So you will only
0:06:15 deposit one Atomic layer at a time. So you have that atomic level control of what you’re depositing
0:06:24 L. D. Can be used for almost the entire periodic table. We hope that you know about this resource at
0:06:32 atomic limits dot com where researchers can go in and frequently add what their depositions are that
0:06:40 they’ve been researching and they’re available to the greater public. There are many commercial
0:06:47 options of what’s available, but what’s on this table is not all commercially available. So at forge
0:06:54 nano, we have expertise and many of the periodic table of depositions. But the commercial options
0:07:02 are many of the oxides as well as several medals as well, nana laminates which I’ll briefly touch on
0:07:08 later. Yeah. So at fortune, you know we have a platform technology for atomic layer deposition which
0:07:19 is L. D. Is the same no matter what you’re depositing on. However the engineering of the system that
0:07:26 you’re using is very different based on working with powders or objects and wafers. So we have two
0:07:32 sets of technologies that we use that that are the systems um that are engineering very differently
0:07:39 and that’s what I’m going to highlight and the rest of this talk. So I’ll first start out with our
0:07:43 powder technology which is R. P. A. L. D. Technology and then move over to our object. And we for
0:07:50 technologies which are A L. D. To the X. Power.
0:07:56 So our particle atomic layer deposition equipment can be used on many different types of materials
0:08:04 they will always deposit can formal uniform pinhole free coatings on a surface. So that can be non
0:08:13 porous powders, particles from anywhere of nano powder up to micron or golf ball size several,
0:08:21 several centimeters of diameter particles. Those can be very porous materials. So if you look at the
0:08:28 centre diagram center showing a pitch L. D. Will can formally coat high aspect ratio surfaces as
0:08:36 long as the amount of time that you left the precursor there allows for diffusion into those pores.
0:08:44 So if you have a porous particle, as long as you leave the diffusion time long enough you will
0:08:50 conform early coat everywhere on the surface. You can also coat on materials that are not powders or
0:08:57 not particles at least. So like nano fibers. And our equipment can also be used to coat those
0:09:03 materials. So what that looks like on real materials. Just going from that last slide over to here,
0:09:12 if you have a non porous particle, that is that image on the left, showing around a 40 nanometer
0:09:18 particle with a five nanometer can formal coding in the middle. You see a trench with striations of
0:09:26 two different materials. So this is the nana laminates that I briefly mentioned before and on the
0:09:33 far side, that is platinum deposition onto an oxide. So that would be a porous material where you
0:09:41 have deposition pores. Uh in that, in that structure, platinum deposition on alumina has different
0:09:51 surface energy than an oxide on an oxide. Um, what you’re seeing on the left hand side here, you
0:09:58 will have more uniform and can formal codings versus on the right hand side. And metal on an oxide
0:10:06 has different surface energies and will rather coalesced into a nanoparticle.
0:10:13 So, getting over to the equipment and what we have Fortunato specialist in uh we have the commercial
0:10:20 uh equipment to go from lab scale all the way to commercial scale tons per day or kila tons per day
0:10:28 production. So our in house equipment um goes from that scale. But we sell the small scale lab
0:10:36 systems like Prometheus as well as Pandora, which I’ll highlight on both of those systems from the
0:10:44 information that you get in running Prometheus, you can scale up through our processes to pilot
0:10:51 scale being kilograms of production all the way up to our commercial scale systems which are
0:10:59 hundreds of kilograms up to tons of production. So in the center here we have a pilot semi
0:11:06 continuous system um which will then be scaled up to our morpheus semi continuous system. The green
0:11:14 box images here is lethal dose, which I will touch on briefly and then seriously which I will not
0:11:20 touch on. But this is a continuous production for powder L. B. All of these systems are for our
0:11:27 powder processing. So at Fortunato again, like I mentioned at the beginning, we want we are an end
0:11:34 to end material solution provider for scale. We provide everything from lab scale R and D. Equipment
0:11:41 up through commercial scale production equipment and we have the Expertise to get you from one end
0:11:48 to the other. Mhm.
0:11:52 So in general for research systems for powder atomic layer deposition, this can be done in fluid
0:12:00 eyes beds or rotary beds. If you were to if you’re attempting to ensure uniform pinhole free
0:12:08 coatings on all the surface of the powder, you do want some agitation or motion of that precursor.
0:12:16 So most of the systems in our facility, which we have Over 16 A. LD systems now, most of our systems
0:12:26 are flew to his beds. This uses a carrier gas like nitrogen or argon. If you need that to be the
0:12:33 case, which is flow controlled into the system and bubbles through the powder bed. I’ll show you an
0:12:41 image on the next slide of what this looks like more in more detail. The different precursors are
0:12:47 attached to the pre line to the reactor, which are then carried into the reactor to react with the
0:12:53 surface at the exit of the reactor. You have your vacuum exhaust and a gas analyzer like um aspect
0:13:03 or a residual gas analyzer that checks for the byproducts that are coming out of the reactor. So
0:13:11 often we’ll look for breakthrough. Um once this precursor actually breaks through at the end and no
0:13:18 longer seeing what the product of their reaction with that surface was. This is a simplified diagram.
0:13:25 You will have more than one precursor. For your atomic layer deposition reactions typically takes
0:13:31 two, you don’t want you know, molecular decomposition to be going on. That’s not L. D. So these
0:13:38 systems are operated under vacuum and that’s primarily to get a vapor pressure of your precursor.
0:13:44 Okay
0:13:48 so for our Prometheus uh system like I said, that’s a fluid eyes bed. We use many fluid ice bed
0:13:54 systems at forge nano by are researchers. So N. F. Laura’s bed, we have the bed fill zone where we
0:14:04 pack the particles and typically they should stay within this region of the bed when you’re doing
0:14:10 the reaction or when you’re fluid izing that that bed of powder. Uh This is to create the agitation
0:14:17 and mixing of the patterns. So you get uniform voting everywhere and have high utilization of the
0:14:26 precursor itself. The next portion of the fluid eyes bed is that expansion zone. So here we reduce
0:14:34 the gas velocity. This is to ensure that the particles then drop back out so that they’re mass is
0:14:41 overcome but the overcoming the velocity of the gas carrying them up, the particles come back down
0:14:48 and then the gas that has entered through the bottom of the reactor here actually continues up but
0:14:55 the powder stays within the bed. So then the disengagement zone is where the particles should not be
0:15:03 up in this region, only the gas which then goes out through these candlestick filters so the
0:15:10 particles stay within the bed and the react it’s come in. The products go out. This allows for near
0:15:20 100% utilization of the precursor and one 100% coverage of the substrate.
0:15:28 So this is what the Prometheus system looks like in our facilities. So you have your computer uh
0:15:36 control system, another computer for the residual gas analyzer, the furnace, which houses the
0:15:43 reactor and then all of your precursors and your electrical in the main part of the component here.
0:15:50 Um So the reactor is accessible. You swap out after you’ve coded your material. This is a very
0:15:57 versatile system so you can change out precursors and do really a huge variety of uh tests on this
0:16:07 for research. The system actually doesn’t have to be only used for powders. In fact, Um we have
0:16:14 three different sizes of reactors that can be attached. So you can have milligram or gram quantities
0:16:23 in the small reactor uh and then stepping up to gram quantities and then even up to kilogram of
0:16:30 powder um quantity in this reactor. But if you want to have that wide versatility, the Prometheus
0:16:38 system can code objects as well as long as they fit within this housing. We can design custom
0:16:46 reactor housings as well. And then also just noting that we do have research type clear reactors
0:16:55 like you see here and the in the last slide so that you can watch your fluid ization. We do not
0:17:01 recommend these for typical coatings, so don’t don’t take them to high temperatures.
0:17:10 So again, just going back to that fluid ization and mixing. So that is what Prometheus does. Um Now
0:17:19 going over to Pandora which is our lower price point. Still very versatile but slightly different
0:17:27 system. So Pandora, either the standard system or the C. M. C. GMP um system that can be used for
0:17:37 pharmaceuticals. Um So again, it has high versatility for processing conditions. Um but this is no
0:17:47 longer a fluid sized bed system. So Pandora is in a rotary LD tool. So this is a real pandora system
0:17:56 here, and the centre part inside of the furnace is where the particles are housed. So in a rotary,
0:18:04 your revolutions per minute dictate what type of mixing you get of the powder inside of the rotary
0:18:13 vessel. So this is very good for different types of materials. Um Either you’re one, it’s the volume
0:18:25 of powder that can be put into, this is 1 to 100 ml of material into that vessel. It is good for
0:18:34 extra dates or catalyst pellets. Um You can also put small objects inside of this vessel, and you
0:18:41 actually have the opportunity to see the reaction going on here. So this is a view port, so you can
0:18:48 actually see into the vessel
0:18:54 and then scaling up from Pandora to our commercial scale system of a rotary reactor is what we call
0:19:05 it does. So the again, substrate is staying with inside the rotary vessel which is here. And the
0:19:12 gases go in and out of that vessel. So similar to the fluid ice bed, you’re changing the gases that
0:19:20 are running through the reactor and the deposition is happening on the powder. So the rotary system
0:19:30 is this is allows for higher flexibility of Ailed thicknesses um uh for coating materials and it’s
0:19:41 uh but it takes longer. So versus some of our other large scale systems, if you want to compare to
0:19:49 morpheus or seriously, I’m happy to talk about our commercial scale systems. But today we’re just
0:19:54 focused on those small scale R. And D. Systems.
0:20:01 So now just briefly, you’re going to touch on our L. D. To the X. Power equipment or L. D. To the X.
0:20:09 Um which is meant for objects and wafers. Again, L. D. Is a platform technology. Um and we use it on
0:20:18 materials of all kinds to be a world leader in material innovations. So they’ll be to the X. We have
0:20:28 three different types of systems. Now, what is very different in the engineering about these systems?
0:20:34 That is different. Um is they’re extremely fast and efficient, still efficient with the precursor.
0:20:42 Um This was a technology that came in through sunday sunday technologies. The deposition rates in
0:20:49 these systems are anywhere between six and 50 nanometers per minute. That is dependent on what
0:20:57 chemistry is being used, but it allows for very thick films to be applied. So you can even have an
0:21:05 abrasion resistance to an object with still having pinhole free so that it can be a corrosive
0:21:13 protection as well. We have many opportunities for this line of equipment um and displays medical,
0:21:21 high reliability electronics, um as well as many other applications.
0:21:29 So going into the engineering of the system just briefly um the L. D. Itself at the surface is
0:21:37 happening the same way that it does on a powder or on any surface. L. D. Is performed the same way
0:21:44 no matter what you’re looking at it. And but the way that the engine the systems are engineered can
0:21:50 be very different. So in this system to enable that 6 to 50 nanometers per minute growth rate were
0:21:59 operating the system very differently. This is called synchronously modulated flow and draw a L. D.
0:22:06 So for wafer equipment typically they’re operated on a mass flow control. In our systems they are
0:22:14 operated with a pressure control rather than a mass flow control. So a standard L. D. System will
0:22:22 have in a single medium point between the residents time and purge time of a chemical reactant. So
0:22:32 then you have a specific chemical utilization there. What we do was synchronously modulated flow and
0:22:39 draw is that during a dose were operating at a high residents time to operate at a high chemical
0:22:48 utilization. Whereas during the purge were operating a very low residents time. Low chemical
0:22:54 utilization. But during that purge it isn’t inert gas. So the high cost precursor is your chemical
0:23:02 dose that you’re using. So you’re precursor versus the purge is an inert gas. So high chemical
0:23:09 utilization of the chemical that you care about um for a longer residence time and then a low
0:23:17 residents time during your purge. So you have the multiple steps in the sequence that are the pulse,
0:23:24 the dose and the purge. So pulse has a high precursor flow and a little precursor draw. And so it
0:23:33 has a shorter reaction saturation time. So more precursor to the surface increases the kinetics then
0:23:41 your dose utilizes, that minimizes the precursor flow during the LD reaction. So you get that longer
0:23:49 utilize longer residence time of the precursor and again higher utilization. And during the purge
0:23:57 you have the high purge flow higher pressure to force the reactions out and have a short residence
0:24:06 time to increase the, decrease the total time. So doing this, you’re modulating the residents time
0:24:15 for a short purge time and increasing the pressure during the reacted dose.
0:24:24 A second aspect to what we have enabling for the L. D. To the X. Equipment is what we call chris or
0:24:33 the catalyzing surface catalyzing reactions or induced surface process. So this enables the
0:24:42 difficult uh L. D. Reactions that have precursors that are more challenging to react or oxidized in
0:24:50 the case of silicon dioxide. Um so we bring in a different precursor to then assist in the oxidation
0:24:59 of that silica producer. So we’re enhancing the reactivity. It opens up the temperature range. It is
0:25:08 still self limiting and deserve a robust LD reaction where we’re able to get uh steady growth rates
0:25:17 using our chris process that you would not get when you would just use a single reactant uh like
0:25:23 ozone. So chris process is proprietary and we’re happy to talk about some of that under N. D. A. Um
0:25:29 on our systems.
0:25:34 So the process has high throughput and can still have uniform deposition on these high aspect ratio
0:25:42 features. So again it’s 100% can formal. A. L. D. Is always A. L. D. If you’re operating under the
0:25:50 process conditions that allow that. So your temperature window and your pulse your diffusion time of
0:25:57 the reactant into any high tortuous materials. Yeah.
0:26:07 And just briefly again, touching on those nan eliminates, we can use our systems to deposit two
0:26:14 different types of oxides and you can distinctively see those materials here and in our system with
0:26:21 the fast deposition, we actually are able to switch between those two different react dense without
0:26:28 a penalty in time. Opening up a whole new world for A. L. D. Just very briefly again, the different
0:26:36 systems are Apollo which is cassette to cassette for wafer handling theA, which is an R. And D. Tool,
0:26:44 more for this audience single wafer or for objects where you’re looking for very thick A. L. D.
0:26:51 Films or that very fast cycle time. This is an option for R. And D. Systems. And then another
0:26:58 commercial system is our helios for rapid coatings on very large objects
0:27:07 and just briefly around a application for R. L. D. To the X. Is for environmental barrier coatings.
0:27:15 Or we also call this the L. D. Cap that can be used for high reliability electronics. Um where the
0:27:23 current uh comparison would be a silicon nitride deposited by PE CVD. And in comparison you have 90%
0:27:35 failure rate for that silicon nitride. And if you add on an L. D. Cap, even as low as 10 nanometers,
0:27:43 you can significantly increase the pass rate or decrease the failure rate of your high reliability
0:27:52 electronics.
0:27:57 So thank you for listening to this talk and I look forward to answering any questions. Please feel
0:28:03 free to reach out. We’re always happy to talk with about opportunities for A. L. D.