Area selective deposition templated by hydrogen and halogen resists
| DWPI Title: Method for fabricating device involves subjecting terminated surface and one or more passivated regions to functionalization process where each of one or more passivated regions is terminated with covalently-bonded molecules to form one or more corresponding functionalized regions |
| Abstract: A process for area selective atomic layer deposition (ALD) at the near atomic scale (sub 10 nm) is disclosed. A substrate surface is cleaned and terminated with hydrogen and a pattern written in the hydrogen terminated surface by selectively depassivating the surface using scanning tunneling microscope lithography. The depassivated regions are subjected to a halogen flux with the thus passivated regions further subjected to a functionalization process creating functionalized regions. The role of hydrogen and halogen can be inverted to invert the tone of the pattern. The substrate is then subjected to the ALD process, with growth occurring only in the non-functionalized regions. The substrate may then optionally be subjected to selective etching to remove the functionalized regions and the portions of the substrate under the functionalized regions. |
| Use: Method for fabricating a device. |
| Advantage: The method can utilize the difference in reactivity between two distinct single atomic layers of adatoms-hydrogen and halogen to selectively deposit desired material into atomically precise areas. The method provides improvements in the selectivity of the etch, the depth of the etch, and the maintenance of the near atomic scale dimensions through the pattern transfer process. |
| Novelty: Fabricating a device involves (i) providing a substrate; (ii) cleaning a surface of the substrate; (iii) terminating the surface of the substrate with one of hydrogen, a halogen, or a pseudo-halogen to form a terminated surface, the halogen not including bromine (Br); (iv) patterning the terminated surface, (v) patterning by depassivating one or more regions of the terminated surface; and (vi) subjecting the thus depassivated one or more regions of the terminated surface to a flux of Br to create one or more passivated regions; (vii) subjecting the terminated surface and the one or more passivated regions to a functionalization process where each of the one or more passivated regions is terminated with covalently-bonded molecules to form one or more corresponding functionalized regions; and (viii) selectively growing a layer of material on the terminated surface, where the layer of material does not grow on the one or more functionalized regions. |
| Filed: 3/14/2023 |
| Application Number: US18121201A |
| Tech ID: SD 15941.1 |
| This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-NA0003525 awarded by the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. The Government has certain rights in the invention. |
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