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What unexplored areas (known unknowns) are there in atomic layer deposition (ALD)? What unexplored applications of ALD are there? It seems like people use it a lot for coatings of either insulators or sometimes transparent conducting contacts. What else could you do with it?

Jennifer Tomlin
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"Other applications with similar demanding requirements outside of the semiconductor industry are low electron leakage dielectrics for magnetic read/write heads... and diffusion barrier coatings with low gas permeability..." (http://chem.colorado.edu/georgegroup/images/stories/300.pdf )

akhmeteli
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  • Oh neat! I didn't realize that diffusion barriers for gas could be made with ALD, but I suppose it makes sense in hindsight. I will check that out. Very cool! Do you think plasma be contained? Plasma could ionize the atomic-layer-deposited gas diffusion barrier. – Jennifer Tomlin Sep 05 '12 at 01:53
  • Sorry, I just don't have an opinion on this issue. – akhmeteli Sep 05 '12 at 02:16
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I can't answer for the unknown part of your question but it is also used for semiconductors and photopholtaic panels.

Shaktyai
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  • More specifically, it's used to deposit HfO2 in advanced 45nm and smaller tech nodes. Probably it's the most money-generating application of ALD :-) – BarsMonster Sep 02 '12 at 21:20