Holst Centre wants to bring spatial ALD into printed electronics

  A spatial ALD reactor developed by TNO
A spatial ALD reactor developed by TNO

Holst Centre, Eindhove, The Netherlands,  an open-innovation initiative by imec, Belgium, and TNO, The Netherlands, is structurally embedding spatial atomic layer deposition (ALD) into its core technology portfolio in the flexible electronics domain and is now actively looking for industrial and academic partners to join this new activity.

The aim according to Holst Centre is to develop the materials and processes needed to bring spatial ALD to market-readiness in new application domains such as organic photovoltaics (OPVs), OLED lighting and displays. The spatial ALD group builds on 4 years of expertise within TNO, which has already resulted in the creation of a spin-off company.

ALD is a technique capable of producing ultra-thin conformal films with atomic level control over thickness. Still conventional ALD is said to have its weak points in achieving high-throughputs and low-cost production. Spatial ALD is an approach to overcome these problems. It’s an ALD mode where the reactions are separated spatially instead of through the use of purge steps. This allows high deposition rate and high throughput at atmospheric pressure, without compromising the typical ALD assets.

<< view all news