Liverpool University in the UK has ordered its second OpAL Open Load Atomic Layer Deposition tool from Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology. The OpAL system is a thermal ALD tool able to upgraded to plasma processing, allowing the combination of both plasma and thermal ALD in a single tool.
“Our current OpAL system is being used to develop thermal ALD processes using ammonia and metal organic precursors for the deposition of hafnium-nitride and lanthanide nitrides / oxynitrides, these materials are of significant interest for gate stack applications in integrated circuits,” commented Dr Richard Potter, University of Liverpool, Dept. of Engineering.