Recent Advances in Atomic Layer Deposition

Joint collection between Chemistry of Materials, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, and ACS Nano

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a powerful technique for fabricating atomically precise coatings on a variety of surfaces, with sub-nanometer precision in both film thickness and composition. Because of the self-limiting surface chemistry intrinsic to the ALD process, one can also conformally coat ultrahigh aspect ratio surfaces, including nanoporous solids and three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical structures. This degree of synthetic control makes it an ideal platform for performing fundamental investigations of nanoscale materials, as well as fabrication of complex functional coatings for a wide range of applications. Essentially, whenever surface and/or interfacial phenomena dominate application properties at the nanoscale, ALD represents one of the most powerful approaches for both fundamental and applied research. In this ACS Select Virtual Issue, 31 recent publications are highlighted from Chemistry of Materials, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, and ACS Nano, chosen to demonstrate the breadth and depth of emerging ALD research. Particular emphasis was placed on the novelty and impact in the research, to provide the reader with a sense of the state-of-the art in ALD research, and perspectives on future directions.

-From the editorial by Neil P. Dasgupta, Han-Bo-Ram Lee, Stacey F. Bent, and Paul S. Weiss
DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b00673