Thursday 19 November 2015

ALD Russia 2015 workshop: travel notes by Riikka Puurunen

Below you find my travel report from the ALD Russia workshop in Dolgoprudny, Moscow region, September 2015. Originally, this travel report was published as a stand-along text through Google docs and also through through BALD Engineering blog

After the ALD Russia workshop, this ALD History blog has been created, and one travel report published in it (St. Petersburg, 2015, Puurunen). Since the ALD Russia workshop was historical in nature in many ways, and since it will be wise to collect ALD-history-related travel reports in one place, I want to publish the travel report here again. To this version, I have added a significant number of previously unpublished photographic material.

Other sources for photos from ALD Russia 2015:
Espoo, 19.11.2015
Riikka Puurunen

--- original report from 25.9.2015 ---

The Atomic Layer Deposition Russia 2015 (“ALD Russia”, in short) workshop was organized by Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), in Dolgoprudny, Moscow region, on September 21-23, 2015. The chairman of the workshop was Anatoly Malygin from St. Petersburg Technological Institute; Dr. Andrey Zenkevich and Dr. Andrey Markeev from MIPT were in charge of the local organizing committee. The workshop was opened by the rector of MIPT, corresponding member of RAS, professor Nikolay Kudryavtsev. According to the organizers, 67 people were registered to attend the workshop.

Invited speakers at the workshop were: Anatoly Malygin (St. Petersburg Technological University, Russia), Steven M. George (University of Colorado at Boulder, USA), Gregory N. Parsons (Carolina State University, USA), Riikka Puurunen (VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland), Annelies Delabie (IMEC, Belgium), Hyungjun Kim (Yonsei University, Korea), Cheol Seong Hwang (Seoul National University, Korea), Robert M. Wallace (University of Texas at Dallas, USA), Andrey Markeev (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia), Sabina Spiga (Laboratorio MDM, IMM-CNR, Italy), Andrey Zenkevich/Yury Matveev (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russia), Vladimir Gritsenko (A. V. Rzhanov Institute of Semiconductor Physics of SB RAS, Russia), Ingo Dirnstorfer (NaMLab, Germany), Vladislav Vasilyev (Novosibirsk State Technical University and SibIS LCC, Russia), Giovanna Scarel (James Madison University, USA), Erwin Kessels (Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands), Sean Barry (Carleton University, Canada),  Svetlana Dorovskikh (A. V. Nikolaev Institute of Inorganic Chemistry SB RAS), and Evgeny Gornev (Mikron, Russia).

The scientific programme of the workshop was a balanced mixture of various subject areas, for example, ALD/PEALD precursor and process development, atomic layer etching, 2D materials, semiconductor applications, and thin film conformality analysis. Some truly futuristic talks were included in the programme, e.g. related to neural networks with ALD-grown memristors. There were also two talks that looked backwards in time: one on the historical developments of ALD under the name Molecular Layering in USSR/Russia; and one describing the organization of the on-going Virtual Project on the History of ALD (VPHA), a volunteer-based project where new participants are welcome and needed.

The non-scientific programme at the workshop consisted of a Moscow river cruise on Tuesday evening. The participants were transported with a bus from Dolgoprudny (through the well-known traffic jam of Moscow) to the centre of the city. With the private boat accompanied with a guide, the participants travelled along the Moskva river for about five hours, passing places such as Tretjagovskii Gallery, Kreml and the Red Square, and seeing also the statue of Peter the Great. At the boat, food was excellent and plenty. Many discussions were carried out in a forward-looking, pleasant sphere, and new connections made.

At the end of the workshop, the participants had a chance to visit the laboratories at MIPT.
As specified at the website http://ald-conf.ru/, the goal of the workshop was to “consolidate the rapidly growing Russian ALD community, and to bring Russian researchers closer to leading international experts in the field.” In my view, this target was met: many leading scientists from Russia, several European countries, USA, Canada and Korea got together at the workshop, interacted during presentations, and enjoyed each other’s company at the social event.

With this travel report, I want to thank the organizers at MIPT for creating this unique event. I also express my thanks to Gregory Parsons, who had come up with the idea that this kind of a workshop should be organized, and to Giovanna Scarel, who thereafter advanced this idea with her long-term collaborators at MIPT. While this meeting was not directly related to the ongoing ALD history project VPHA, it is evident that the VPHA has ripened the time for this type of workshop to happen.  

This workshop was the first of its kind. The organizers envisioned that there will be continuation in one way or another --- how exactly, is left for the future to show. My hope is that the international ALD community could once meet in St. Petersburg, where ALD research has been carried out already over fifty years.

Espoo, September 25, 2015
Riikka Puurunen
Senior Scientist, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
Coordinator of the Virtual Project on the History of ALD (VPHA)

--- photos added 19.11.2015 ---


Flying with Aeroflot from Helsinki to Moscow. Flights for the invited speakers were organized and paid by the workshop organizers. All aeroplanes were named after Russian authors, I flew with "Chezchevskii" (or a name close to that). Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Arriving at Sheremetyevo airport. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

All invited speakers stayed at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel (Bld.1,39 Leningradskoe Shosse, Moscow, 125212, Russian Federation), as guests of the conference organizers. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

A bus took the invited speakers to the workshop venue each morning. This photo is from the first day of the workshop, and many of the workshop participants met at the bus for the first time. This photo includes a historical first handshake. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Moscow is known for heavy traffic. Luckily, most of the way we traveled in the other direction than most commuters. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Arriving at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, for registration at the workshop. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.


Conference bag, ALD Russia workshop. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

"MFTI - Centre of living systems". Indeed, the wall was composed of living moss! Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

The workshop was opened by the rector of MIPT, corresponding member of RAS, professor Nikolay Kudryavtsev. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Listening carefully to the interesting - and evidently amusing - introduction. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Prof Gregory Parsons told how the workshop had been initiated. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.


Prof Anatoly gave the opening invited talk, introducing the Russian roots to ALD, namely the Molecular Layering technique, as well as present-day groups in Russia working with ALD. Photo by Riikka Puurunen. Prof Malygin's slides can be accessed at http://vph-ald.com/UploadedPublications/ALDRussia-2015_Malygin_invited.pdf.

The opening talk already initiated discussion. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

The second invited talk was by Prof Steven George, on Atomic Layer Etching. Before the talk, George emphasised the importance of understanding the history of ALD and proposed ways how to increase the awareness of the early Molecular Layering works within the international ALD community (addressing, indeed, the photographer, when making his proposal). Photo by Riikka Puurunen.


The third talk was by me (Dr. Riikka Puurunen), about the Virtual Project on the History of ALD (VPHA, http://vph-ald.com). Photo from MIPT's Flickr photoset, published with permission of the workshop organizers.


This is the first slide of my talk about VPHA. The full set of slides can be accessed at: http://vph-ald.com/VPHApublications/VPHA-ALDrussia_talk_Puurunen-etal_FINAL_2015-09-20.pdf

Next was Prof Gregory Parsons, who gave an invited talk, where he discussed TiO2 ALD and addressed some early Molecular Layering works in detail. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

The talk of Prof Gregory Parsons initiated discussion among the workshop participants, here Prof Anatoly Malygin comments. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

After Gregory Parsons, it was my (Riikka Puurunen's) time to talk again, this time about the conformality limits of ALD films. I could not resist to include some history of ALD - now at VTT - in this talk, too. Photo from Sean Barry, first published in Twitter, published here with permission. 

We had lunch at a restaurant close by --- "eating in Theory". Photo by Riikka Puurunen.


A historical set of people together: Dr. Riikka Puurunen, Prof. Anatoly Malygin, and Prof. Gregory Parsons, in front of the ALD Russia 2015 workshop at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) venue in Dolgoprudny. Photo from Puurunen's personal collection, taken by Abdulagatov.


Prof Malygin gave me a copy of his lecture notes on Molecular Layering, currently in use in teaching at St. Petersburg State Technological Institute.

Prof. Annelies Delabie gave an invited talk on 2D materials. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Prof. Seol Seong Hwang gave an invited talk on phase change memories. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Prof. Robert Wallace gave an invited talk on the analysis of 2D materials. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Dr. Giovanna Scarel gave an invited talk on rare earth oxides and thermoelectric films. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Dr. Giovanna Scarel and Dr. Riikka Puurunen: a key initiator of the ALD Russia workshop and the coordinator of Virtual Project on the History of ALD, in front of the ALD Russia 2015 workshop venue at MIPT in Dolgoprudny. Photo from Puurunen's personal collection, photographer's name not recorded.

September 22, at the end of the day, the excursion to Moscow centre, river cruise, started. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

After a not-so-short bus ride, we arrived at Moscow and the river. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

The boat passed Kremlin and the red square, when it was still light. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

At the Moscow river cruise after sunset. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

On the way back, "Kremlin by night" was a popular souvenir photograph for the workshop participants. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Prof. Erwin Kessels gave an invited talk on PEALD, showing how Legos can be used to understand FinFET structures. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Prof. Sean Barry gave an invited talk on gold deposition by ALD. Here, Sean Barry nicely uses the "periodic table of ALD" (originally created for my 2005 JAP review, OA, and updated for the 2013 JAP review, OA), highlighting the fact that no ALD growth has been reported for gold films earlier. Photo by Riikka Puurunen. 

Dr. Alexey Veselov from Picosun gave an interesting presentation. Photo by Riikka Puurunen. 

The daily salad in "Theory". Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

It is easy to buy flowers in Russia - this kiosk next to "Theory" restaurant close to MIPT is open 24 hours a day! Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Sean Barry has been told that he resembles a person important in the Russian history. We made a small photo-shoot, to generate a look-alike picture in Moscow-Dolgoprudny, in front of MIPT. How well it worked out I'm not sure, but anyway Sean Barry got a nice profile photo to use in Barry lab's webpage. Photo by Riikka Puurunen. 

At the end of the conference, we had a tour at the MIPT laboratories to look at the Picosun apparatus. Many people were very interested. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Metro is a convenient means to move around Moscow. This picture is from the Teatralnaya metro station. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

Instructions how to change metro in Moscow. The metro network is complicated, and it definitely helps if one can read cyrillic letters. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.

One evening, I had the chance to visit the centre of Moscow. Red Square was full of foreign and local tourists, walking around and taking "selfies" (with or without "selfie stick"), with the magnificent St. Basil's Cathedral as the background. Photo by Riikka Puurunen. 

 
The ALD community is very international, and writing the names of colleagues is often a bit difficult. This was my identification card at ALD Russia 2015 - my name was not completely correctly written, but it served its identification purpose well. Photo by Riikka Puurunen.



A historical event like this deserves a group photo of all participants. Photo from http://ald-conf.ru, published with permission of the conference organizers. 

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Virtual Project on the History of ALD (VPHA) - in atmosphere of Openness, Respect, and Trust

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