Adrie Mackus

Selective atomic-scale processing for nanoelectronics

Our research encompasses thin film deposition and etching for applications in nanoelectronics, with a focus on selective processing for bottom-up fabrication of materials. Using the atomic layer deposition (ALD) and atomic layer etching (ALE) techniques as a starting point, novel approaches are developed to synthesize materials with atomic-level control.

Selective atomic-scale processing for fabrication of nanoelectronics

It is a long held dream in nanoscience to synthesize materials from the bottom-up with atomic-level control of structure and properties, yet the fabrication of nanoelectronics still relies almost completely on top-down processing. From a technological point-of-view, the motivation for working on bottom-up fabrication is that conventional top-down processing relying on photolithography and etching is reaching its limits in terms of alignment accuracy. Our research focuses on the development of new approaches for area-selective ALD based detailed insights from plasma physics and surface chemistry. Area-selective ALD aims at deposition of material only on surfaces where it is needed, without coating other surfaces of different materials, and thereby enables self-aligned fabrication. In addition, we are exploring other flavors of selective processing such as topographically-selective deposition or atomic-scale cleaning.