Why PEALD instead of thermal ALD?
In PEALD, plasma generates reactive radicals, ions, and photons that
activate precursors and co-reactants, allowing high-quality film growth at
substantially lower substrate temperatures. This is essential for advanced
semiconductor structures that cannot tolerate high-temperature
processing. Plasma chemistry also expands the range of possible materials,
improves ligand removal and film density, and enables tuning of
composition, stoichiometry, stress, and microstructure through plasma
power, gas chemistry, exposure time, and bias. In addition, its higher
reactivity can shorten reaction times and increase deposition rates,
improving throughput.
PEALD is preferred over thermal ALD when a process requires a lower
thermal budget, faster surface reactions, or chemistry that
thermal ALD cannot readily achieve.
Two channels, zero cross-contamination
The dual-channel ring guarantees a strictly independent and perfectly uniform tangential flow of precursor and co-reactant into the chamber at the highest possible speed — while still forming a perfectly symmetrical laminar flow across the wafer.