Used SAMCO Thin Flim Deposition Equipment AL-1

The SAMCO AL-1 is an open-type thermal atomic layer deposition (ALD) system, introduced in 2015. It is not designed for the mass production of general-purpose logic chips; rather, it specializes in gate dielectric layers for next-generation power devices—such as those based on GaN or SiC—as well as applications in the MEMS sector.

Process Capabilities: The system can deposit pinhole-free aluminum oxide (AlOx) and silicon dioxide (SiO2) thin films, with thickness control at the atomic level (1.2 Å/cycle at 350°C). Its AlOx films exhibit an insulating breakdown strength of 7.5 MV/cm and offer excellent step coverage in high-aspect-ratio structures (32:1), maintaining a uniform thickness of 103 nm across the top, sidewalls, and bottom.

Hardware Specifications: The tool accommodates either a single 8-inch wafer or three 4-inch wafers simultaneously. It supports substrate heating up to 500°C and features proximity-based chamber-wall heating along with high-speed ALD valves (with a pulse precision of 10 ms) to minimize particle contamination and reduce evacuation/purging times. The system is positioned for R&D and pilot production rather than large-scale high-volume manufacturing.

In short, the AL-1 is a specialized thermal ALD tool developed by SAMCO for gate-oxide processes in power semiconductors—a distinct application space from the high-throughput logic-chip platforms (such as those from ASM) that you have previously looked into.