Summary of key attributes of the technology:

• Film Thickness controlled by film chemistry, most grow at 0.1 nm/cycle, thickness determined by number of cycles
• Conformal pinhole-free films are produced by the gas phase process and are not line of sight dependent
• Near zero waste of precursor chemicals for coating particles
• Process reproducibility is very high since process is independent of most process parameters
• Process easy to automate/control with monitoring of gas phase by-products
• Improve surface wetting and interfacial adhesion of fillers and pigments – Increase loading (thermal fillers, metals, sunscreens)
• Resistance to moisture and air – Improve stability (phosphors, battery materials, medical devices)
• UV / VUV Resistance – Protect materials in space and outdoor coatings
• Surface Passivation – Improve stability, color, prevent agglomeration
• Unique Composition – Construct nanocomposites with specific properties

Key competitive advantages:

Much recent work has focused on the coating of substrates with thin films by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The ALD processing method is similar to CVD, but allows conformal atomic level control over the deposition process. This control during ALD is achieved by introducing the reactants individually in a sequential manner. In contrast, both reactants are present simultaneously during CVD. Consequently, the CVD reaction occurs continuously and there is no automatic control over the film thickness. The CVD film thickness can only be determined based on time of reactant exposure, pressure of reactants and reaction temperature. All these parameters must be controlled very carefully to have a chance at precise thickness control.

Although particles and substrates have been coated by CVD, the limitations of CVD should be clearly defined:

• CVD has no inherent control of the film thickness using surface chemistry
• CVD can reach a limited degree of control only by extremely careful control of reaction time, reactant exposure and reaction temperature
• CVD does not deposit conformally; rather deposition is determined by reactant flux
• Reactants may react in the gas phase during CVD; consequently, particles may deposit on the surface resulting in a granular, nonconformal and porous film

In contrast, the limitations of CVD are overcome using ALD methods:

• ALD has inherent control of the film thickness using surface chemistry
• ALD yields thickness control because of the self-limiting surface reactions; film thickness is determined by the number of sequential reactions
• ALD deposits conformally as long as the reactant exposure is sufficient to reach all the available surface area
• Reactants do not react in the gas phase during ALD; consequently, there is no problem with particle deposition

ALD NanoSolutions is the gateway to creating new materials that cannot be synthesized by standard processes such as CVD. Because of the precision and quality of ALD films, the material is 10x to 100x thinner – and more cost effective – than CVD films. This technology enables new applications for a large variety of substrate materials with improved performance. ALD offers the best commercial methods for conformally encapsulating small particles with chemically bonded, high-purity, ultra-thin films of controlled thickness. In addition, ALD on polymers offers ground-breaking performance and innovation for barriers. The Company is in a unique position to directly collaborate with existing coating or substrate manufacturing businesses. ALD NanoSolutions customers, in turn, can design novel material solutions to offer significant new value, performance, and cost effectiveness in their markets.