Area Selective Deposition by Photoassisted CVD

In this project, we are developing area selective deposition (ASD) methods in which low temperature photoassisted chemical vapor deposition (PACVD) processes are employed for the selective deposition of metals onto thermally sensitive materials.  ASD is done in the microelectronics industry using high-temperature processes, but future device fabrication schemes require new low-temperature ASD methods.  We use mechanism-based design and studies of precursor photochemistry to choose complexes that when irradiated, generate intermediates that react with specific functional groups on the growth surface leading to growth of a metallic deposit. The non-growth surface is functionalized with groups that are unreactive towards the intermediates. We use self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) for both growth and non-growth surfaces. SAMs have highly organized structures with a uniform density of terminal functional groups and can be easily patterned enabling investigation of deposition selectivity.   Our PACVD work is carried out in collaboration with Prof. Amy Walker at the University of Texas, Dallas.