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!

Foundations of atomic-level plasma processing in nanoelectronics – Smaller, thinner, taller, etc … all enabled by plasmas

***Quick link to the open access paper: “Foundations of atomic-level plasma processing in nanoelectronics”*** We have just published a topical review paper entitled “Foundations of atomic-level plasma processing in nanoelectronics” in the journal Plasma Sources Science and Technology. This review is part of a two-part collection of papers on Foundations of Low Temperature Plasmas and … Read more

Launch of the ALD & ALE ReviewBase – An easy-to-access overview of all ALD and ALE review papers

, , , ,

The scientific and technological interest in atomic layer deposition (ALD) and atomic layer etching (ALE) has been surging in the last decade and the sheer volume of ALD and ALE papers can make it difficult to get a clear overview of what is going on. Luckily, the studies and trends are often summarized and compared … Read more

About (my way of) academic leadership
— A reflection after 10 years of chairing the Plasma & Materials Processing group at TU/e

In 2021 it was 10 years ago that I took over the chair position of the Plasma & Materials Processing (PMP) group at the Department of Applied Physics of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). Since then I have been leading this research group and I thought that it was a good time now to … Read more

Visualizing the contributions of key authors to the field of ALD – Exploring newly implemented functionality of the ALD/Database

,

It is more than 2 years ago that Elsa Alvaro (Northwestern University Libraries) and Angel Yanguas-Gil (Argonne National Laboratory) published their research article “Characterizing the field of Atomic Layer Deposition: Authors, topics, and collaborations” in PLOS ONE. This article provided some interesting insights into how the method of ALD evolved over time while the field … Read more

#ALDALE2020 – The prime conference in the field of atomic scale processing brought to your home

One of the most exciting presentations I saw in last year was given by Rajesh Krishnamurthy, a senior technology analyst of TechInsights. He was invited at the 19th International Conference on Atomic Layer Deposition in Bellevue WA, which also featured the 6th International Atomic Layer Etching Workshop. During this ALD/ALE 2019 meeting (which I covered … Read more

ALD in the Netherlands – Special issue of the NEVAC magazine (free): How a small country can be big in nanolayers

,

The Dutch Vacuum Society – or Nederlandse Vacuümvereniging (NEVAC) – publishes the so-called “NEVAC blad”, a magazine that appears three times a year. The issue for June 2020 just appeared and it is a special issue completely devoted to atomic layer deposition (ALD). Together with my colleague Bart Macco, I was the guest editor. Originally … Read more

Atomic layer etching turns 32.5 years old! – A good occasion to share an ALE timeline and an animated version of the ALE periodic table

ALE timeline

Last November the method of atomic layer deposition (ALD) turned 45 years old. The date of November 29, 1974 was the priority date for the first patent in the field of ALD. I considered this a good occasion to share an ALD timeline and animated version of the ALD periodic table on this blog. The … Read more

Plasma ALD – A discussion of mechanisms – Commemorating the career of John Coburn

Undoubtedly, every scientist and technologist working in the field of plasma etching has heard about the research carried out by Coburn and Winters, two research scientists that worked at the IBM San Jose Research Laboratory for almost their full professional career. In 2016 Harold Winters, at the age of 83, sadly passed away and this … Read more

X