DMI Seminar Presented by Arrelaine Dameron

TITLE: Manufacturing-Scale Atomic Layer Deposition for Batteries… and Other Applications
Historically Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has been regarded as a lab-only process, disregarded as too expensive and an unrealistic process for commercial adoption outside of semiconductor manufacturing. However, several methods for high volume manufacturing have been developed over the last decade, making ALD on powders affordable as a material-upgrading technique. Forge Nano has patented, constructed, and demonstrated the highest throughput ALD capability in the world, unlocking new potential for lower cost integration of ALD into products. ALD is a well utilized platform technology for powders, porous particles, and high-surface area objects that has been widely demonstrated throughout the literature. Fundamentally, ALD on powders or any high surface area surface is the same as on flat surfaces — if the chemistry is self-limiting, the precursors can be kept separate and supplied at a concentration to saturate the available surface area, the thin film growth will be controlled and uniform. In practice, the very high surface area, long diffusion pathways, and complexities of gas solids mixing bring a few additional challenges not usually encountered during lab-scale ALD.
In summary, ALD is a critical tool for anyone attempting to modify interfaces at the R&D scale. Therefore, ALD should also be utilized at the manufacturing-scale to maintain an edge in a competitive market. This talk will discuss ALD as a means of controlling surface phenomena and its implementation in high volume manufacturing for powder modification and provide a couple use-case examples.