(Invited) Surface-Limited Electrochemical Reactions Enabling Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and Etching (ALE) for Nano-Electronics and Energy Applications

Abstract

Manipulating materials with near atomic precision is becoming critical in applications ranging from nano-electronics to electrocatalysis and clean energy. In the present talk, fundamental aspects of surface-limited oxidation and reduction reactions enabled via electrochemistry will be discussed. These reactions facilitate electrochemically-assisted atomic layer deposition (e-ALD) and etching (e-ALE) processes which offer significant advantages compared to conventional plasma-assisted ALD and ALE routes. Advantages include high throughput and environmentally-benign processing, unprecedented versatility in choice of materials accessible via e-ALD and e-ALE, and in situ as well as in operando control over surface physicochemical characteristics such as roughness and composition. Recent developments from our laboratory on e-ALD and e-ALE of noble, semi-noble and active materials will be reviewed, with a particular emphasis on quantitative modeling of these processes which enables their theory-guided design and control.