Picosun
Oy, Finland-based global manufacturer of state-of-the-art Atomic Layer Deposition
(ALD) systems announced today that the Department of Materials Chemistry, at
the Ångström Laboratory of Uppsala, Sweden has purchased, approved
for use and is already running Picosun's SUNALE™ ALD systems.
The Ångstrom Laboratory constitutes one of Europe’s most advanced
laboratories for materials science, including the largest university clean room
in the Nordic countries, The Ångström Microstructure Laboratory.
It constitutes part of the University of Uppsala, founded in 1477.
“We are profoundly pleased of the fact that one of world’s most
prestigious CVD (Chemical Vapour Deposition) and ALD research institutions has
chosen Picosun as its ALD systems provider and partner in developing new ALD
applications”, says Juhana Kostamo, Managing Director of Picosun. “Our
co-operation with the Ångström Laboratory strengthens our position
in the Scandinavian market and once again shows how strong we are in systems
development and how great our hardware is.”
“The co-operation between Picosun and the Ångström Laboratory,
Department of Materials Chemistry is of strong mutual interest. Both parties
have a long experience of research and development in the areas of ALD and CVD
and by joining forces we will be able to make more rapid progress. We have chosen
an ALD system from Picosun because of the flexibility in the design, impressive
process control and easiness to handle,” says former head of the Ångström
Laboratories, former vice-rector, in charge of science and technology at Uppsala
University, Professor Jan-Otto Carlsson.
Professor Carlsson is currently leading the inorganic chemistry research program
of the Department of Materials Chemistry of the Ångström Laboratory.
The work of his particular research group is profiled towards fundamental studies
of chemical bond, structure and reactivity at vapour/solid interfaces. New synthesis
routes, based on e.g. sacrificial monolayers, are explored by introducing intermediate
pulses in ALD processes to open new reaction channels. It means that the interfacial
chemistry will be tuned by using the interplay between surface terminations
and precursors. This new concept will open for synthesis of new classes of materials,
including multilayers and artificial superlattices.
Other Ångström research groups using the new ALD system are Professor
Mats Boman’s group studying nanoporous anodic alumina and Professor Anders
Hårsta’s group studying ALD of metal oxides. “The SUNALE™
ALD system was delivered to the Ångström Lab just a few weeks ago
and there is already a considerable interest from other in-house research groups
at the Ångström Lab for a variety of applications (microelectronics,
solar cells, and catalysis),” says Professor Carlsson.
The Ångström Laboratory is named after two Uppsala professors,
Anders Jonas Ångström (1814-1874) and his son Knut Ångström
(1857-1910). Anders Jonas introduced a unit for light wavelength, which later
on was adopted as an international standard under the name 1 angstrom (Å)=
0.1 nanometers.
Picosun develops and manufactures Atomic Layer Deposition ( ALD) reactors
for micro- and nanotechnology applications. Picosun represents continuity to
over three decades of ALD reactor manufacturing in Finland. Picosun is based
in Espoo, Finland with production, R&D and laboratory facilities in Kirkkonummi,
Finland and has its US headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. SUNALE™ ALD
process tools have been installed in various universities, research institutes
and companies across Europe, USA and Asia. Picosun is a part of Stephen Industries
Inc Oy.