Atmospheric Pressure Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (AP-SALD)

Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (SALD) is an approach to ALD that is faster and less expensive than traditional thermal ALD. SALD thus opens new field of industrial applications for flexible and large-area substrates (OLEDs, flat displays, photovoltaic cells…).

In SALD the classical sequence of precursor injection + purge is replaced by an alternative approach in which the different precursors are constantly being supplied and kept a part by inert gas barriers while the sample moves between the different precursor zones.

As a result , ALD becomes up to 2 orders of magnitude faster than conventional temporal ALD, it can easily be operated in ambient conditions (atmospheric pressure, no vacuum) and it is very easily scalable and compatible with high throughput processing techniques such as Roll-to-Roll (R2R). The novel SALD has proven to deposit high quality oxide films that can be radily integrated in optoelectronic devices.

In the team we develop research in three axes:

1.- Design and optimization of the SALD reactors. The SALDs at LMG have been designed and fabricated in the lab. The systems have been conceived to be easily adapted to different types of samples, materials and reaction activation. At present, there are two systems operative, while a third one is currently being implemented. Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations are used to guide our designs. As example of our developments, we have recently fabricated a compact atmospheric plasma head through a collaboration with the GREMI lab, allowing us to perform atmospheric-plasma-activated SALD.

2.- Fundamental studies. This line includes the characterization (including in situ) of the reaction mechanism and the study of the effect of open-air processing in the properties of the materials deposited. We also tackle the deposition of new materials and materials which have not beed deposited by SLAD before. These include oxides, metals and hybrid materials. For that, new precursors are explored thanks to different collaborations with synthetic chemistry groups. The materials currently deposited at LMGP include: Al2O3, ZnO, ZnO:Al (AZO), TiO2, SiO2 and Cu2O. Our studies have allowed us to develop a new theoretical model for the conductivity of polycrystalline oxide semiconductive films.

3.- Application to devices. Through different collaboration inside and outside the LMGP, the films developed by the team are applied in functional materials and devices. In particular, we focus on the study of transparent conductive materials for different optoelectronic devices. Other devices include thin film transistors, sensors, MIM diodes, etc…

See below for the list of publications:

Chemical deposition of Cu2O films with ultra-low resistivity: Correlation with the defect landscape.

A. Sekkat*, M. O. Liedke, V. H. Nguyen, M. Butterling, F. Baiutti, J. D. S. Veru, M. Weber, L. Rapenne, D. Bellet, G. Chichignoud, A. Kaminski-Cachopo, E. Hirschmann, A. Wagner, and D. Muñoz-Rojas*

Nature Communications, 2022, 13, Article number: 5322

95.- Stable flexible transparent electrodes for localized heating of lab-on-a-chip devices

Dorina T. Papanastasiou, Abderrahime Sekkat, Viet H. Nguyen, Carmen Jiménez, David Muñoz-Rojas, Franz Bruckert*, Daniel Bellet*

Adv. Mater. Tech. 2022, Accepted.

Atmospheric atomic layer deposition of SnO₂ thin films with Tin(II) acetylacetonate and water

Viet Huong Nguyen,* Masoud Akbari, Abderrahime Sekkat, Huong T. T. Ta, Joao Resende, Carmen Jiménez, Kevin P. Musselman, David Muñoz-Rojas*

Dalton Transactions 2022, 51, 9278-9290

A highly sensitive self-actuated zinc oxide resonant microcantilever gas sensor for humidity detection

Kissan Mistry, Viet H. Nguyen, Mohamed Arabi, Khaled H. Ibrahim, Hatameh Asgarimoghaddam, Mustafa Yavuz, David Muñoz-Rojas, Eihab M. Abdel-Rahman, Kevin P. Musselman*

Nano Lett. 2022, 22, 8, 3196–3203

Advances in flexible metallic transparent electrodes

Viet Huong Nguyen,* Dorina T. Papanastasiou, Joao Resende, Laetitia Bardet, Thomas Sannicolo, Carmen Jiménez, David Muñoz-Rojas, Ngoc Duy Nguyen, Daniel Bellet

Small, 2022, 18(19), 2106006. Work featured as inside front cover.

High Performance Encapsulation of Transparent Conductive Polymers by Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition

Amélie Schultheiss*, Abderrahim Sekkat, Viet Huong Nguyen, Alexandre Carella, Anass Benayad, Amélie Revaux, Renaud Demadrille, David Muñoz-Rojas*, Jean-Pierre Simonato*

Synthetic Metals, 2022, 284, 116995

Silver Nanowire Networks: Ways to Enhance their Physical Properties and Stability

Laetitia Bardet*, Dorina T. Papanastasiou, Chiara Crivello, Masoud Akbari, João Resende, Abderrahime Sekkat, Camilo Sanchez-Velasquez, Laetitia Rapenne, Carmen Jiménez, David Muñoz-Rojas, Aurore Denneulin, Daniel Bellet*

Nanomaterials, 2021, 11(11), 2785

Tuning the band gap and carrier concentration of titania films grown by spatial atomic layer deposition: a precursor comparison

Claire Armstrong, Louis-Vincent Delumea, David Muñoz-Rojas, Ahmed Kursumovic, Judith MacManus-Driscoll, Kevin P. Musselman*

Nanoscale Advances, 2021,3, 5908-5918.

Effects of non-homogeneity and oxide coating on silver nanowire networks under electrical stress: comparison between experiment and modeling

Dorina T. Papanastasiou, Nicolas Charvin, Joao Resende, Viet Huong Nguyen, Abderrahime Sekkat, David Muñoz-Rojas, Carmen Jiménez, Lionel Flandin, Daniel Bellet *

Nanotechnology, 2021, 32(44), 445702.

Open-Air Printing of Cu₂O Thin Films with High Hole Mobility for Semitransparent Solar Harvesters

Abderrahime Sekkat, Viet Huong Nguyen, César Arturo Masse de La Huerta, Laetitia Rapenne, Daniel Bellet, Anne Kaminski-Cachopo, Guy Chichignoud, and David Muñoz-Rojas*

Commun Mater 2, 78 (2021)

Open-Air, Low-Temperature Deposition of Phase Pure Cu₂O Thin Films as Efficient Hole-Transporting Layers for Silicon Heterojunction Solar Cells

Van Son Nguyenǂ, Abderrahime Sekkatǂ, Daniel Bellet, Guy Chichignoud, Anne Kaminski-Cachopo, David Muñoz-Rojas* and Wilfried Favre*

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2021, 9, 15968-15974.

Nanoscale Film Thickness Gradients Printed in Open Air by Spatially Varying Chemical Vapor Deposition

Abdullah H. Alshehri, Jhi Yong Loke, Viet Huong Nguyen, Alexander Jones, Hatameh Asgarimoghaddam, Louis-Vincent Delumeau, Ahmed Shahin, Khaled H. Ibrahim, Kissan Mistry, Mustafa Yavuz, David Muñoz-Rojas, and Kevin P. Musselman*

Adv. Func. Mater., 2021, 31(31), 2103271

Transparent and Mechanically Resistant Silver Nanowire based Low-Emissivity Coatings

Sébastien Hanauer, Caroline Celle*, Chiara Crivello, Helga Szambolics, David Muñoz-Rojas, Daniel Bellet, Jean-Pierre Simonato*

ACS Applier Materials & Interfaces, 2021, 13(18), 21971–21978

Planar and Transparent Memristive Devices Based on Titanium Oxide Coated Silver Nanowire Networks with Tunable Switching Voltage

Joao Resende, Abderrahime Sekkat, Viet Huong Nguyen, Tomy Chatin, Carmen Jiménez, Mónica Burriel, Daniel Bellet*, David Muñoz-Rojas*

Small, 2021,17(21), 2007344

Impact of Precursor Exposure in Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition on Process Efficiency and Film Properties

Viet Huong Nguyen,* Abderrahime Sekkat, Carmen Jiménez, Delfina Muñoz, Daniel Bellet, David Muñoz-Rojas*

Chemical Engineering Journal, 2021, 403,126234

Atmospheric Plasma-Enhanced Spatial Chemical Vapor Deposition of SiO₂ using Trivinylmethoxysilane and Oxygen Plasma

Nguyen, Viet Huong*; Sekkat, Abderrahime; Masse de la Huerta, César ; Zoubian, Fadi; Crivello, Chiara; Rubio-Zuazo, Juan; Jaffal, Moustapha; Bonvalot, Marceline; Vallee, Christophe; Aubry, Olivier; Rabat, Hervé; Hong, Dunpin; Muñoz-Rojas, David*

Chemistry of Materials, 2020, 32, 12, 5153–5161

Versatility of bilayer metal oxide coatings on silver nanowire networks for enhanced stability with minimal transparency loss

S. Aghazadehchors, V.H. Nguyen, David Muñoz-Rojas*, C. Jiménez, L. Rapenne, N.D. Nguyen and D. Bellet*

Nanoscale, 2019, 11, 19969-19979

Al₂O₃, Al doped ZnO and SnO₂ encapsulation of randomly oriented ZnO nanowire networks for high performance and stable electrical devices

Fanny Morisot, Viet Huong Nguyen, Cindy Montemont, Tony Maindron, David Muñoz-Rojas, Mireille Mouis, Michel Langlet and Céline Ternon*

Nanotechnology, 2019, 30, 385202.

Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition

D. Muñoz-Rojas*, V. H. Nguyen, C. Masse de la Huerta, C. Jiménez, D. Bellet

Chemical Vapor Deposition for Nanotechnology

IntechOpen, 2019. Print and Electronic. link

Low-cost fabrication of flexible transparent electrodes based on Al doped ZnO and silver nanowire nanocomposites: impact of the network density

Viet Huong Nguyen, Joao Resende, Dorina T. Papanastasiou, Nil Fontanals, Carmen Jiménez, David Muñoz-Rojas,* Daniel Bellet*

Nanoscale, 2019, 11 (25), 12097-12107.

ZnO based nanowire network for gas sensing applications

Fanny Morisot, Claudio Zuliani, Joaquim Luque, Zeeshan Ali, Mireille Mouis, Viet Huong Nguyen, David Muñoz-Rojas, Oumayma Lourhzal, Michael Texier, Thomas W Cornelius, Céline Ternon*

Marterials Research Express, accepted 2019.

Ultrathin metal-oxide interface mediated ZnO nanowire memristive devices emulating synaptic behaviors

Ming Xiao, Travis Yeow, Viet Huong Nguyen, David Muñoz-Rojas, Kevin P. Musselman, Walter W. Duley and Y. Norman Zhou*

Advanced Electronic Materials, 2019 accepted,

Influence of the geometric parameters on the deposition mode in spatial atomic layer deposition: a novel approach to area-selective deposition

César Masse de la Huerta, Viet Huong Nguyen, Jean-Marc Dedulle, Daniel Bellet, Carmen Jiménez, David Muñoz-Rojas*

Coatings, 2018, 9(5), 5.

Speeding up the unique assets of atomic layer deposition

David Muñoz-Rojas*, Tony Maindron, Alain Estevec, Fabien Piallat, Jacques C. S. Kools, Jean-Manuel Decams

Materials Today Chemistry, accepted 2018.

Quantum-tunneling metal-insulator-metal diodes made by rapid atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition

Abdullah H. Alshehri, Kissan Mistry§, Viet Huong Nguyen§, Khaled H. Ibrahim§, David Muñoz-Rojas*, Mustafa Yavuz and Kevin P. Musselman*

Advanced Functional Materials, accepted 2018.

Increasing the Electron Mobility of ZnO-Based Transparent Conductive Films Deposited by Open-Air Methods for Enhanced Sensing Performance

Viet Huong Nguyen* Daniel Bellet, Bruno Masenelli, David Muñoz-Rojas*

ACS Applied Nano Materials, accepted 2018.

Electron tunneling through grain boundaries in transparent conductive oxides and implications for electrical conductivity

Viet Huong Nguyen*, Ulrich Gottlieb, Anthony Valla, Delfina Muñoz, Daniel Bellet, David Muñoz-Rojas*

Materials Horizons, 2018, 5, 715-726. DOI: 10.1039/C8MH00402A

Stability enhancement of silver nanowire networks with conformal ZnO coatings deposited by atmospheric pressure spatial atomic layer deposition

Afzal Khan, Viet Huong Nguyen, David Muñoz-Rojas*, Sara Aghazadehchors, Carmen Jiménez, Ngoc Duy Nguyen, and Daniel Bellet

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2018,10 (22), pp 19208–19217. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.8b01242

Oxidation of Copper Nanowires based Transparent Electrodes in Ambient Conditions and their Stabilization by Encapsulation. Application to Transparent Film Heaters

Celle, Caroline; Cabos, Anthony; Fontecave, Thomas; Laguitton, Bruno; Benayad, Anass; Guettaz, Laure; Pelissier, Nathalie; NGUYEN, Viet Huong; Bellet, Daniel; Muñoz-Rojas, David; SIMONATO, Jean-Pierre*

Nanotechnology, 2018, 29, 085701.

Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (SALD), an emerging tool for energy materials. Application to new-generation photovoltaic devices and transparent conductive materials.

David Muñoz-Rojas, Viet Huong Nguyen,César Masse de la Huerta, Sara Aghazadehchors, Carmen Jiménez, DanielBellet

Comptes Rendus Physique, 2017, 18, 391-400.

Deposition of ZnO based thin films by Atmospheric Pressure Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (AP-SALD) for application in solar cells

Viet Huong Nguyen*, João Resende, Carmen Jiménez, Jean-Luc Deschanvres, Perrine Carroy, Delfina Muñoz, Daniel Bellet, David Muñoz Rojas*

Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 2017, 9, 021203.

Rapid open-air deposition of uniform, nanoscale, functional coatings on nanorod arrays

Kevin Philip Musselman, David Muñoz-Rojas, Robert L Z Hoye, Haiyan Sun, Suman-Lata Sahonta, Edmund Croft, Marcus Böhm, Caterina Ducati and Judith MacManus-Driscoll

RSC Nanoscale horizons, 2017, 2, 110-117.

The Influence of an Inorganic Interlayer on Exciton Separation in Hybrid Solar Cells

Claire L. Armstrong, Michael B. Price, David Muñoz-Rojas, Nathaniel J.L.K. Davis, Mojtaba Abdi-Jalebi, Richard H. Friend, Neil C. Greenham, Judith L. MacManus-Driscoll, Marcus L. Böhm, andKevin P. Musselman*

ACS Nano, 2015, 9 (12), pp 11863–11871

Synthesis and modeling of uniform complex metal oxides by close-proximity atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition

Robert L. Z Hoye, David Muñoz-Rojas, Kevin P. Musselman Yana Vaynzof Judith L. MacManus-Driscoll*.

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2015, 7 (20), pp 10684–10694

Research Update: Atmospheric pressure spatial atomic layer deposition of ZnO thin films: reactors, doping and devices

Robert L. Z Hoye*, David Muñoz-Rojas, Shelby F. Nelson, Andrea Illiberi, Paul Poodt, Fred Roozeboom, and Judith L. MacManus-Driscoll*.

APL Materials, 3, 040701, 2015.

(Minireview) Spatial Atmospheric Atomic Layer Deposition: A new laboratory and industrial tool for low-cost photovoltaics

David Muñoz-Rojas*, and Judith L. MacManus-Driscoll.

Materials Horizons, 1, 314-320, 2014.

One of the most read articles in the last 30 days (3/3/2014-15/5/2014)

Improved Open – Circuit Voltage in ZnO – PbSe Quantum Dot Solar Cells by Understanding and Reducing Losses Arising from the ZnO Conduction Band Tail

Robert L.Z. Hoye, Bruno Ehrler, Marcus L. Böhm, David Muñoz-Rojas, Rashid M. Altamimi, Ahmed Y. Alyamani, Yana Vaynzof, Aditya Sadhanala, Giorgio Ercolano, Neil C. Greenham, Richard H. Friend, Judith L. MacManus-Driscoll, and Kevin P. Musselman*

Advanced Energy Materials, 4, 2014, 1301544