Erwin Kessels

I’m a professor in Applied Physics at the Eindhoven University of Technology. I’m leading the Plasma & Materials Processing group, which is a large research group working in the plasma science, materials science and surface science domain. A large part of the current research focuses on the preparation of nanolayers and nanostructures by atomic layer deposition and related processes. And I’m responsible for this blog!

#ALDALE2019 – A preview of my “ALD Innovator Award” plenary presentation at the 19th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition

The 19th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition, featuring also the 6th International Atomic Layer Etching Workshop, is about to start. It will kick-off today (Sunday July 22) with a tutorial session and the welcome reception. I feel extremely honored as I have been awarded the ALD Innovator Award this year. I highly appreciate this … Read more

And here it is… the online ALD database
– A website where you can easily search, browse, and add ALD processes

Many of us ALD researchers have been talking – or even dreaming – about it for some years: an online database listing all ALD materials and processes. And now we have it! You can access it through the link at the top (or the menu on mobile devices) of the Atomic Limits blog. You can click … Read more

Overview of all materials prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD)
– An up-to-date and colorful periodic table (to download)

As you might have noticed, we have just started a year in which we celebrate the discovery of the Periodic System by Dmitri Mendeleev: 2019 is the 150th anniversary of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements and has therefore been proclaimed the “International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT2019)” by the United Nations … Read more

Where do our students and postdocs go? Mainly to ASML?
– About the alumni of the Plasma & Materials Processing research group

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When evaluating what comes out of a university research group, often the research carried out by the group is given most attention. However, obviously, the most important product of a research group is not the research itself but it’s the people that are educated and trained: our students and postdocs. This blog post is somewhat … Read more

In situ Studies of ALD Processes & Reaction Mechanisms

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It is the time of the year that the annual AVS International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition combined with the International Atomic Layer Etching Workshop takes place. The location of 18th edition of the ALD conference (ALD 2018) and the 5th edition of the ALE workshop (ALE 2018) is Incheon, South Korea (July 29 – … Read more

The prospects for the use of Al2O3 in solar cells (in 10 questions)
– How we looked at it in 2011

At the end of last month – in May – the 2018 edition of the “PERC Solar Cell Technology” report appeared as published by Taiyang news. It is the third edition of this interesting report and it starts by stating that “we have entered the PERC era in the solar cell technologies segment” with “today, … Read more

Plasma ALD and substrate biasing
– The impact of energetic ions on film properties

“Plasma ions create electronic defects in sensitive substrates as well as generate a large electronic trap density in deposited films, especially detrimental for gate dielectric applications.” This is a sentence that I read about 10 years ago (in January 2007 to be more precise) in a white paper published by an ALD tool vendor. This … Read more

Surface science aspects of (plasma) ALD reactions
– Extending the legacy of Harold Winters

The fact that Dr. Harold Winters passed away last year – at the age of 83 – has led to initiatives in tribute of Harold and his profound contributions to plasma science. One of these initiatives is a Special Issue Tribute to Harold Winters of the Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. We have also … Read more

In situ spectroscopic ellipsometry and ALD
– How ellipsometry became a popular technique to monitor ALD film growth

Serendipity is often cited as a key factor in scientific innovations. I can fully confirm this as will also be obvious from the subtitle of this blog site: “Blog about strategy, serendipity and vision in nanoscience”. From my point of view, the fact that in situ ellipsometry has become a popular technique to monitor ALD … Read more

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