From ideas to global industry40 years of ALD in Finland

Tuomo Suntola

From ideas to global industry

Proposals for new products

Instrumentarium OySearch for new challengesLate 1973

”Humicap” humidity sensor to Vaisala Oy, 1973

1.1.1974Research unit

The proposal

??

??

??

??

I am still confused

… let’s go ahead

Let’s develop an

electroluminescent flat panel

display

EL

…nobody has done it yet

– but at a higher level

The problem and the solution

State of the art:

- High performance demonstrated

- Major problems with stability due to the high operational voltage

Novel thin film processing technique

is needed

Well order material requires

well ordered processing conditions

How about sequential buildup of

compounds? May - June 1974

Well controlled electronic

properties require well ordered

material

The 1st ALE process for ZnS, September 1974

12th Baltic ALD, Helsinki 201412.05.2014 5

Idea of sequential buildup of

compounds, June 1974

Construction of testequipment

10-4 torr

360 C

4x10-5 torr

3x10-3 torr2x10-2 torr

2 c/s

Zn S

320 C

100 C

0.4

mm0.6

0.2

00 10 20

minutes

Hexagonal ZnS: monolayer 3.13 Ån=2.36

1/3 x monolayer

Optical thickness monitoring

Need, ideas, solution, demonstration, basic patents

1970 1980 1990 2000 20102020

Early ALD reactors

EL demos

Need, ideas, solution, demonstration, basic patentsProduct prototypes

1970 1980 1990 2000 20102020

Early ALD reactors

Pilot & commercial production of EL panels

Need, ideas, solution, demonstration, basic patentsProduct prototypes, reactors for EL production

1970 1980 1990 2000 20102020

Meeting the EL target

Pilot & commercial production of EL panelsCommercial production of EL panels, Lohja Planar Beneq

2004 Picosun Oy

2005 Beneq Oy

Need, ideas, solution, demonstration, basic patentsProduct prototypes, reactors for EL production

Commercial production of EL panels, Lohja Planar Beneq

1970 1980 1990 2000 20102020

Research for better understanding of ALD chemistry

Microchemistry Ltd1999 ASM Microchemistry,commercial reactors & processes

40 years of ALD reactors

commercial reactors

Helsinki University of Technology

University of Joensuu

2004 Picosun Oy

2005 Beneq Oy

Need, ideas, solution, demonstration, basic patentsProduct prototypes, reactors for EL production

Commercial production of EL panels, Lohja Planar Beneq

1970 1980 1990 2000 20102020

Research for better understanding of ALD chemistry

Microchemistry Ltd,commercial reactors

1999 ASM Microchemistry,commercial reactors & processes

From ideas to global industry

Explosive increase in ALD activity- research & industrial

1984

1984 16th

Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials

Kobe, Japan

ACSIconferences

ALE-4Linz 1996 Centre of

Excellence

From Atomic Layer Epitaxy to Atomic Layer

Deposition

Greek language: ”epi - taxis”

=> ”On arrangement”

From ideas to global industry

There is a Finnish saying: One picture is worth 1000 words

We found that:- one demo is worth 1000 pictures

- one product is worth 1000 demos- vital industry is worth millions of

products

What should we celebrate?

A scientist celebrates ideas, an engineer celebrates successful demoes,

production manager celebrates successful mass production and high yield

marketing manager celebrates orders receivedfinancial manager celebrates money received

general manager and owners celebrate profitable business

everybody celebrates satisfied customers - we have made something important!

From ideas to global industry

ALD has proven its usability in numerous applications and as a tool for understanding chemistry at atomic level!

My sincere thanks to all my co-workers during the years

and my high appreciation to you allhaving made the ALD - and the many

ideas behind -a success and worth celebrating !

My best wishes for a successful conference and creative future work on

the ALD !

Thank you !