Term "growth per cycle" (GPC) gaining wider use

"Growth per cycle (GPC)" (unit e.g., nm) and "growth rate" (unit e.g., nm/cyc) have been described as alternative names to denote the time-independent amount of material deposited in a completed atomic layer deposition (ALD) cycle. The recent Baltic ALD 2016 conference confirmed the trend which I have noticed already earlier: the ALD community more and more shifts to use GPC.

I have been advocating the use of GPC since the early 2000s. A bit of history may be in place to explain why I chose to use GPC in the first place---how did it all get started? In the following, I will tell how one specific person has played a major role in the background.

History of ALD terminology: Growth per cycle (GPC)

Growth per cycle (GPC) is a term that is increasingly often used in ALD literature. Since when has it been used? Who has created it, or has it been created by many?

A discussion chain was just started in LinkedIn in the ALD - Atomic Layer Deposition group to find answers to these questions. Link to LinkedIn discussion chain: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1885076/1885076-6122818578006757376. Your views appreciated!


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

VPHA status update 2016-03-31

 The status update below was sent to 52 co-authors and 30 prospective co-authors.

 --- 

Dear VPHA co-authors and prospective co-authors,

This VPHA status update shares progress in the following topics. The previous VPHA update was dated 12.2.2016, earlier updates can be accessed here.

• 1.       VPHA abstract to Ireland ALD 2016: a poster
• 2.       VPHA reading status & preparing to Ireland ALD 2016
• 3.       VPHA listed as a Collaboration in HERALD
• 4.       Worldwide list: ALD theses
• 5.       Worldwide list: reviews
• 6.       Worldwide list: conferences
• 7.       ALD terminology discussion
• 8.       Other ALD History Blog posts

ALD terminology discussion: Ligand exchange reaction

Since when is term "ligand exchange reaction" used in the ALD literature? How has it been defined? How about "exchange reaction" - is it used interchangeably with ligand exchange reaction, or do they have different meanings? A discussion thread to find answers to these questions was just started in the ALD - Atomic Layer Deposition LinkedIn group, link to thread: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1885076/1885076-6108533900315803648. Comments appreciated!

Thanks to Simon Elliott for proposing ligand exchange reaction in the list of ALD terminology to be discussed. 

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

ALD terminology discussion: Half reaction

"Half reaction" is a term that is to a growing extent being used in the ALD literature. It is used elsewhere, too, mainly to describe the oxidation or reduction components of a redox (reduction-oxidation) reaction for example in electrochemistry (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-reaction). When has term "half reaction" been introduced in the ALD literature, by whom, and why? A discussion thread to find answers to these question was just started in LinkedIn ALD - Atomic Layer Deposition group, link to thread: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1885076/1885076-6100552712707985409. Comments appreciated!

ALD terminology discussion: ALD Window - 2

Thank you for the discussion on the ALD-specific term, "ALD Window", as started in http://aldhistory.blogspot.fi/2016/01/ald-terminology-discussion-ald-window.html. As confirmed in LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1885076/1885076-6093349323704193027, this term has been created by Tuomo Suntola.

To check the first usage, I contacted Suntola himself. For certain, ALD Window has been presented in the 1989 review. However, according to Suntola it is likely that the term has been in use already in early 1980s. Below is an image which is probably a mid-step in the evolution towards the ALD window concept that we now know. It is from 1981 from Suntola's invited talk at the ICVGE-5 conference.

Scanned slide from the invited presentation T. Suntola, "Atomic Layer Epitaxy", Tech. Digest of ICVGE-5, San Diego, 1981. Provided by Tuomo Suntola.

ALD terminology discussion: ALD Window

"ALD window" (sometimes, ALD temperature window) is a term used widely in ALD literature.

Although this term is widely used and specific to ALD, rarely, an original source is pointed out.

Who created this term, and when? Can the first (public, written) record for this be tracked back? How was ALD Window originally defined and how did it look like? Nowadays, exactly how it is described, may tend to differ slightly from one source to the other.

I am asking, because by the time that we will write the ALD History Review (#10 in the VPHA Publication Plan, http://vph-ald.com/Publication%20Plan.html), we should know.

ALD terminology discussion: Atomic Layer Deposition

Everyone uses term "Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD)" nowadays, but this is not how the technique was invented. Originally, the technology was called Atomic Layer Epitaxy (in Finland) and Molecular Layering - or actually, Molekulyarnoe Naslaivanie (in Russia). 

What is the first documented use of the term ALD? I am asking, because I don't know --- not yet. By the time of writing the "ALD History Review" (number 10 in the VPHA Publication Plan), we should know. Preparations for the review are now just starting, and more co-authors are welcome, as are also for the VPHA presentation at Ireland ALD 2016. 

VPHA status update email 2015-12-17

The VPHA email update was sent to 39 co-authors and 31 prospective co-authors: 

---

Dear current and prospective VPHA co-authors,

It is time for this year’s the last update regarding the Virtual Project on the History of ALD (VPHA). Please find below updates on six topics:

1.    ML essay

2.    Wikipedia update

3.    Recent ALD History Blog posts

4.    VPHA in numbers

5.    Personal invitations to join the ALD history reading

6.    History of ALD terminology 

Significant progress has taken place in VPHA this year. When many small individual contributions are summed up together, the result can be very significant. Thank you for everyone’s contributions, may it be big or small!