Method of growing electrical conductors
First Claim
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1. A method of producing a conductive thin film, comprising:
- depositing a metal oxide thin film on a substrate by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process; and
at least partially reducing the metal oxide thin film by exposing the metal oxide thin film to an electric current, thereby forming a seed layer.
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Abstract
A method for forming a conductive thin film includes depositing a metal oxide thin film on a substrate by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. The method further includes at least partially reducing the metal oxide thin film by exposing the metal oxide thin film to a reducing agent, thereby forming a seed layer. In one arrangement, the reducing agent comprises one or more organic compounds that contain at least one functional group selected from the group consisting of —OH, —CHO, and —COOH. In another arrangement, the reducing agent comprises an electric current.
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Citations
51 Claims
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1. A method of producing a conductive thin film, comprising:
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depositing a metal oxide thin film on a substrate by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process; and
at least partially reducing the metal oxide thin film by exposing the metal oxide thin film to an electric current, thereby forming a seed layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A method of producing a conductive thin film comprising the steps of:
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A. placing a substrate in a chamber;
B. exposing the substrate to a vapor phase first reactant, wherein the first reactant adsorbs no more than a monolayer of metal species on the substrate;
C. removing excess first reactant from the chamber;
D. exposing the substrate to a second vapor phase reactant comprising a compound that is capable of oxidizing the adsorbed metal species on the substrate into metal oxide;
E. removing excess second reactant from the chamber;
F. repeating the above steps B through E at least three times to form a metal oxide film; and
G. following step F, exposing the substrate to an electric current to reduce the metal oxide to metal. - View Dependent Claims (40)
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41. A method of producing a conductive thin film comprising:
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depositing a metal oxide thin film of at least 0.6 nanometers thickness on a substrate; and
reducing said metal oxide thin film to metal by exposing the metal oxide thin film to an electric current.
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42. A method of producing a conductive thin film, comprising:
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depositing a metal oxide thin film on a substrate by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process; and
at least partially reducing the metal oxide thin film to elemental metal. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A method of producing a conductive thin film, comprising:
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depositing a metal oxide thin film on a substrate by an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process; and
at least partially reducing the metal oxide thin film to elemental metal in an electrochemical deposition tool. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51)
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Specification