Plasma-Assisted Nanofabrication: The Potential and Challenges in Atomic Layer Deposition and Etching

The growing need for increasingly miniaturized devices has placed high importance and demands on nanofabrication technologies with high-quality, low temperatures, and low-cost techniques. In the past few years, the development and recent advances in atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes boosted interest in their use in advanced electronic and nano/microelectromechanical systems (NEMS/MEMS) device manufacturing. In this context, non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology has been highlighted because it allowed the ALD technique to expand its process window and the fabrication of several nanomaterials at reduced temperatures, allowing thermosensitive substrates to be covered with good formability and uniformity. In this review article, we comprehensively describe how the NTP changed the ALD universe and expanded it in device fabrication for different applications. We also present an overview of the efforts and developed strategies to gather the NTP and ALD technologies with the consecutive formation of plasma-assisted ALD (PA-ALD) technique, which has been successfully applied in nanofabrication and surface modification. The advantages and limitations currently faced by this technique are presented and discussed. We conclude this review by showing the atomic layer etching (ALE) technique, another development of NTP and ALD junction that has gained more and more attention by allowing significant advancements in plasma-assisted nanofabrication.

Automated summary

The increasing demand for miniaturized devices has led to high importance and requirements for nanofabrication technologies that are of high-quality, low temperatures, and low cost. In recent years, the development of atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes has sparked interest in their use in advanced electronic and nano/microelectromechanical systems (NEMS/MEMS) device manufacturing. Non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology has emerged as a significant technique that expands the process window of ALD and allows the fabrication of various nanomaterials at lower temperatures, enabling the coverage of thermosensitive substrates with good formability and uniformity. This review article comprehensively describes the impact of NTP on the ALD universe and its applications in device fabrication. It also presents the integration of NTP and ALD technologies to form the plasma-assisted ALD (PA-ALD) technique, which has been successfully used in nanofabrication and surface modification. The advantages and limitations of this technique are discussed, along with the introduction of atomic layer etching (ALE) technique, another development of the NTP and ALD junction that has gained attention for plasma-assisted nanofabrication.