Hot-Wire assisted ALD: Another example of radical-enhanced atomic layer deposition

Description

Hot-wire assisted atomic layer deposition (HWALD) belongs to the so-called radical-enhanced deposition methods, and is an alternative to plasma enhancement. By using a heated filament (‘hot wire’), HWALD enables formation of reactive species (radicals) at low substrate
temperatures, however without the generation of energetic ions and UV photons as by plasma. This makes HWALD a purely chemical technique, similar to thermal ALD, still enabling higher deposition rates due to the presence of radicals. This paper discusses the merits of HWALD and gives examples of HWALD of pure metallic tungsten films.