Friday 24 November 2017, Amsterdam

The global atomic layer deposition (ALD) market is expected to reach USD 3.01 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to grow substantially over the forecast period, owing to its excellent efficiency of depositing conformal coatings equivalent to thickness measurement of nano-layers for the intricate semiconductor components. 

Atomic layer deposition is a key manufacturing process in the fabrication of semiconductor devices, and part of the set of tools available for the synthesis of nanomaterials. It is considered as one of the significant deposition method for producing thin conformal films. The demand for complex and miniaturized components coupled with the advent of nano-technology has driven the ALD market.

The thin-film deposition market constitutes of other major technologies such as chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, sputtering and epitaxy equipment. Though CVD accounts for a larger market share currently, the advanced & feature-rich ALD process holds its own significance due to its performance of delivering high deposition, and high production rates with minimal waste. CVD is the only alternative to ALD but to a limited extent, and it cannot deliver precise conformity to films similar to the atomic layer technology.

Plasma Enhanced-ALD is expected to be the fastest growing product type owing to its excellent output properties and fastest surface reaction mechanism rate. ALD is surface-sensitive deposition process, and PEALD enhances the surface modification through plasma exposure, which enables to alter nucleation. The PEALD deposition films are ultra-thin films with exceptional flatness and uniformity. The current process development effort by the top companies globally, is mainly focused on delivering new, higher quality & throughput and progressive dielectric materials.