The Evolution of the ALD Reactor – ALD Stories Ep. 25

In its short 50 years of existence, the history of Atomic Layer Deposition has been of great interest, being heavily researched and documented in the last decade. One can follow the story from many lenses: one in particular is to view the technology’s development is through an equipment perspective. Each milestone in process technology was accompanied and enabled by new ALD tools. Without innovative equipment design, we would not have the vast ALD ecosystem we do today. Via patents and literature, this ALDeep Dive will journey the evolution of the ALD reactor. It starts from Tuomo Suntola’s original reactor and IP, moves through the early days of commercial reactors, explore the introduction of plasma, powder and spatial tools, and wrap up with today’s equipment landscape and thoughts on the personal aspect of ALD reactors.


In this episode:

00:00 - Intro

01:33 – Suntola’s 1st Reactor

03:15 – Suntola’s Patented Configurations

07:38 – The First Commercial Reactor

10:50 – Plasma, Please

15:20 – Powder ALD Reactors

20:37 – Reintroduction of Spatial ALD

24:10 – Today’s ALD Tool Landscape

25:43 – Concluding Thoughts



Important Papers & Patents

Chem. Vap. Dep. 2014, 20, 10-11-12, 332-344

T. Suntola, J. Antson, International patent, FIN 52359, US 4 058 430, priority Nov 29, 1974, publication Nov 15, 1977.

T. Suntola, A. Pakkala, S. Lindfors, International patent, FIN 57975, US 4 413 022, priority Feb 28, 1979, publication Nov 1, 1983.

J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A, Vol.29, No.5, Sep/Oct 2011

J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 25 (5) Sep/Oct 2007

Applied Physics Letters 92, 192101 (2008)

Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A 30, 021502 (2012)