Liquid injection MOCVD and ALD of ZrO2 using Zr–cyclopentadienyl precursors

Thin films of ZrO2 have been deposited by liquid injection MOCVD and ALD using the cyclopentadienyl-based Zr precursors [(MeCp)2ZrMe(OMe)] and [(MeCp)2ZrMe(OBut)]. Analysis by X-ray diffraction showed that films grown at low temperature (300 °C) by ALD were amorphous, whist films deposited at higher temperature (600 °C) by MOCVD exist in the tetragonal phase. Auger electron spectroscopy showed that residual carbon (1.4–7.0 at.%) was present in the oxide films and that the MOCVD-grown films contained more carbon contamination than those grown by ALD.