Ion energy control during plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition: enabling materials control and selective processing in the third dimension

As we enter an era of atomic scale devices, there is a strict need for precise control over the thickness and properties of materials em-ployed in device fabrication [1,2]. Furthermore, next-generation de-vices consist of various material layers across both planar and three-dimensional (3D) layouts which has led to an additional need for processing materials in a selective manner [3,4]. Plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a technique that uses the species generated in a plasma (i.e. radicals, ions) for processing materials at the atomic level. In this article, we demonstrate how implementing ion energy control in plasma ALD enhances the versatility of this atomic scale processing technique by enabling control over a wide range of material properties during deposition. Furthermore, we show how controlling ion energies during plasma ALD on 3D trench-shaped nanostructures provide a novel approach for topographically selective materials processing.