Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER
16
Atomic Layer Deposition
for Biomimicry
Lianbing Zhang
a
and
Mato Knez
a,b
a
CIC nanoGUNE Consolider, Tolosa Hiribidea 76,
20018 Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
b
Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Alameda Urquijo 36-5,
48011 Bilbao, Spain
Prospectus
With the development of new synthetic procedures
and technological processes, the interest in biomim-
icry has gathered rejuvenation in the past decades.
One particularly interesting research method is the
atomic layer deposition (ALD), which was estab-
lished in various fields of technology as a vacuum-
based chemical-processing technique and enabler
for the deposition of extremely thin functional
coatings. The benefits of this technology over simi-
lar techniques make it increasingly attractive for
applications in biomimicry. In this chapter, short
descriptions of the technology and its benefits and
drawbacks are given. Subsequently, we summarize
development in various research topics involving
ALD and biomimicry.
16.1 ATOMIC LAYER DEPOSITION:
HI
STORY AND TECHNOLOG
Y
In the 1960s, Kol'tsov from the Leningrad Tech-
nological Institute published a method for thin-
film coating, showing the principle of the process
that is now called
atomic layer deposition
(ALD)
[1]
. The method, at that time termed
molecular
layering
, described an alternating exposure of a
substrate to two reactive species in the vapor
phase. The work was published in Russian and
was therefore not recognized for a long time
by the scientific community outside the Soviet
Union.
In the 1970s, Suntola and Antson developed a
similar methodology as an enabling technology
to controllably produce thin-film electrolumines-
cent displays (TFELs)
[2]
, which were adopted
quite soon thereafter. For example, the airport in
Helsinki, Finland, installed an electrolumines-
cent screen based on the thin-film coating pro-
cess and kept it operational from 1983 through
1998. During this period, the term
atomic layer
Keywords
Anatase, Atomic layer deposition, Biocompatibility,
Bioinorganic hybrid materials, Biomineralization,
Biotemplate, Catalysis, Cellulose, Collagen, DNA,
Dye-sensitized solar cell, Electrodes, Enzyme mimet-
ics, Ferritin, Hydrophobicity, Nanostructure, Plasma-
assisted ALD, S layer, Spider silk.
