Patent ID: 8623456

Claim:
A method of depositing a thin film by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on a substrate surface of a substrate, comprising: placing an ALD deposition proximity head above the substrate with at least one gas channel configured to dispense a gas to an active process region of the substrate surface, wherein the ALD deposition proximity head covers the active process region of the substrate surface, wherein the active process region covered is less than a complete area of a top surface of the substrate; dispensing a pulse of a first reactant gas on the active process region of the substrate surface underneath the proximity head; dispensing a first pulse of purging gas on the active process region of the substrate surface underneath the proximity head to purge excess first reactant gas from a reaction volume between the ALD proximity head and the substrate surface; dispensing a pulse of a second reactant gas on the active process region of the substrate surface underneath the proximity head to react with the first reactant gas to form a portion of the thin film on the surface of substrate underneath the proximity head; and dispensing a second pulse of purging gas on the active process region of the substrate surface underneath the proximity head to remove excess second reactant gas and reaction by product(s) from the reaction volume between the ALD proximity head and the substrate surface; and moving the ALD deposition proximity head to a new active process region, the moving configured to repeat to other new active process regions until the complete area of the top surface of the substrate receives the thin film.