How NaMLab Creates New Materials for the Semiconductor Industry [with video]

The NaMLab, which is an acronym for Nanoelectronics Materials Laboratory, was founded in 2006 as a public-private partnership between Qimonda AG and technical university Dresden. It is now part of TU Dresden, and is based in Dresden, Germany. In the first year, NaMLab started as a non-profit research organization with 10 employees focused on material research for future memory devices. The organization expanded steadily and today, NaMLab serves a growing list of world-wide partners. Their goal is to develop materials end techniques that can be used in future digital microelectronic technologies. 

Picture: NamLab team

Recently, their team recorded a very nice video, showing their facility and explaining different coating technologies they use, amongst which ALD. The video also showcases how they create and find new materials for the semiconductor industry. 

Amongst many other topics, NaMLab's researchers work on fabricating capacitors and transistors. Dr. Monica Materano and Ruben Alcala explain that standard capacitor structures consist of a conductive bottom and top electrode made of sputtered titanium nitride and a ferroelectric layer made of atomic layer deposition hafnium zirconium oxide, each layer around 30 nanometers thick. 

The capacitors are processed in a clean room and the researchers use a 150-millimeter silicon wafer to deposit atomic layers of titanium nitride and hafnium oxide. 

The wafer is then heated to convert the amorphous dielectric layer to a crystalline ferroelectric layer. The fabrication process of a thin film capacitor is completed by adding a shadow mask to the wafer, allowing titanium nitride deposition on the substrate, and heating the wafer.

Check out their video to see all the details: