Inhibitor-free area-selective atomic layer deposition of SiO2 through chemoselective adsorption of an aminodisilane precursor on oxide versus nitride substrates

Area-selective atomic layer deposition (AS-ALD) offers complementary bottom-up patterning with atomic-level accuracy on pre-defined areas in conjunction with conventional top-down patterning, so it has attracted tremendous interest for enablement of multi-dimensional nanostructures toward sub-10 nm scale technology. In this work, we report a methodology for achieving inherently selective deposition of high-quality oxide thin films through chemoselective adsorption of an aminodisilane precursor, 1,2-bis(diisopropylamino)disilane (BDIPADS), on oxide versus nitride substrates. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show higher reactivity for adsorption of BDIPADS on OH-terminated SiO2 compared with NH2-terminated SiN surfaces, indicating selective growth of SiO2 films in the SiO2 area. Applying BDIPADS precursor to both SiO2 and SiN substrates results in inherent deposition selectivity of ~ 1 nm even without the use of inhibitory molecules such as self-assembled monolayers. Using this inherent selectivity as a starting point, we further enhance deposition selectivity using combined ALD-etching supercycle strategies in which HF-wet etching step is periodically inserted after 20 cycles of ALD SiO2, leading to an enlarged deposition selectivity of approximately 5 nm after repeated ALD-etching supercycles. This approach can be envisaged to provide a practically applicable strategy toward highly selective deposition using inherent AS-ALD that can be incorporated into upcoming 3D bottom-up nanofabrication.

Automated summary

Area-selective atomic layer deposition (AS-ALD) allows for bottom-up patterning with atomic-level accuracy in conjunction with top-down patterning, showing inherent deposition selectivity without the use of inhibitory molecules. By incorporating combined ALD-etching supercycle strategies, the deposition selectivity can be further enhanced to approximately 5 nm, providing a practical approach for highly selective deposition in 3D bottom-up nanofabrication.