Electroless atomic layer deposition
AssigneeNational Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC
InventorsDavid Bruce Robinson, Patrick J. Cappillino, Leah B. Sheridan, John L. Stickney, David M. Benson
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Abstract
A method of electroless atomic layer deposition is described. The method electrolessly generates a layer of sacrificial material on a surface of a first material. The method adds doses of a solution of a second material to the substrate. The method performs a galvanic exchange reaction to oxidize away the layer of the sacrificial material and deposit a layer of the second material on the surface of the first material. The method can be repeated for a plurality of iterations in order to deposit a desired thickness of the second material on the surface of the first material.
Claims8
A method of electroless atomic layer deposition, the method comprising:
- electrolessly generating a layer of sacrificial material on a surface of a first material immersed in an electrolyte under conditions where the process is surface-limited, wherein a thickness of the layer of sacrificial material is on an order of an atomic thickness and the sacrificial material comprises hydrogen and the method of generating a layer of sacrificial material on a surface of a first material comprises bubbling a 0.01% to 2.5% mixture of hydrogen in a nonreactive gas into an electrolyte;
- forming a layer of hydride on the surface of the first material as the layer of sacrificial material;
- constraining an amount of hydride in the first material so that the number of moles of hydride does not exceed the amount of surface hydride;
- adding doses of a solution of a second material;
- and
- performing a surface-limited galvanic exchange reaction to oxidize away the layer of the sacrificial material and deposit a layer of the second material on the surface of the first material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.