8. Modified PEALD deposition for enhanced Ta2O5 growth kinetics

As we have seen, the PEALD technique enables higher deposition rates than conventional ALD. In addition, PEALD deposition can be achieved using a second method, which involves continuously feeding plasma gas (e.g. oxygen) and argon into the reactor (figure 18 ), and alternating injections of precursor (diluted in argon) and radio-frequency pulses. For this method, a precursor should be used which does not react in the gas phase with atomic oxygen in the temperature range under consideration. The use of a continuous flow increases purging efficiency after precursor and oxidant injection. Indeed, in the case of a standard ALD/PEALD sequence (figure 18 ), closing...