Methods for area-selective deposition of polymer films using sequentially pulsed initiated chemical vapor deposition (spiCVD)

A method for area-selective deposition (ASD) of polymer films, the method comprising:

• providing a substrate having a target material and a non-target material exposed on a surface of the substrate;
• utilizing a sequentially pulsed initiated chemical vapor deposition (spiCVD) process to selectively deposit a predetermined thickness of a polymer film on a surface of the target material without contaminating the non-target material with polymer, wherein said utilizing the spiCVD process includes:
• sequentially exposing the surface of the substrate to a vapor-phase precursor and a vapor-phase initiator, such that the surface of the substrate is initially exposed to the vapor-phase precursor for a precursor exposure time before the surface of the substrate is subsequently exposed to the vapor-phase initiator, wherein the vapor-phase precursor chemically reacts with and bonds to the surface of the target material to selectively form a condensate layer on the surface of the target material, while avoiding condensate formation on the non-target material, and wherein the vapor-phase initiator reacts with and polymerizes the condensate layer to selectively deposit the polymer film on the surface of the target material;
• and
• repeating said sequentially exposing the surface of the substrate to the vapor-phase precursor and the vapor-phase initiator for a predetermined number of cycles to selectively deposit the predetermined thickness of the polymer film on the surface of the target material without contaminating the non-target material with polymer.