Thin film deposition research and its impact on microelectronics scaling

Throughout his career, Dr. Stephen Rossnagel and his co-workers have had a profound influence on thin film deposition. His seminal work includes the development of reactive, collimated, and ionized methods of DC and RF magnetron sputtering, as well as plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition. Most importantly, his contributions have been widely adopted within the microelectronics community in its efforts to produce finer layers with increased uniformity and functionality. While applications span a very broad range, from complementary metal oxide semiconductor device metallization to DNA sensing, Dr. Rossnagel has also conducted fundamental investigations into microstructural effects on electronic scattering. In this manuscript, the authors will highlight some of Steve’s contributions to these areas and their continued relevance to current and future microelectronic device scaling.