SAFC Case Study 1

SAFC is a specialty chemical supplier to the semiconductor industry. Its customers are continuously advancing technology that requires molecular tailoring of chemicals to improve compatibility with device fabrication methodologies. Whilst SAFC can synthesise ultra-high purity samples and fully characterise their physical properties the performance of these new precursors in final devices cannot be assessed in-house.

Solution
SAFC partners with a research team who can test its chemicals and provide state-of-the-art feedback on semiconductor device performance from the samples supplied. Liverpool University has such expertise across several departments including Chemistry, Materials Science and Electrical Engineering and is therefore an ideal candidate.

Project
For advanced semiconductor devices a move from SiO2 as the dielectric layer in transistors and capacitors has been identified to allow further concentration of components on a chip and thus maintain Moore’s Law for performance increase of the end module at an exponential rate. HfO2 and ZrO2 were established as leading contenders for this new high-k layer and SAFC needed chemicals suited to the new coating technique of Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) testing at Liverpool to be able to launch a competitive product offering to the market place. A 2 year project was implemented with a post doc position funded by SAFC.

Potential molecules were identified in collaboration with all concerned and fabricated in the SAFC laboratories. Following physical property assessment to ensure thermal stability and volatility of the chemicals were within operational parameters the first lots were shipped to Liverpool and growth trials performed. Results from a wide range of parameter sets highlighted the optimum operating range for the new chemicals. The access to a higher operating regime to conventional chemicals demonstrated by Liverpool for the new materials whilst providing required layer functionality allowed SAFC to offer a new product range specifically for applications where increased thermal budget was beneficial.