AVS 51st International Symposium
    Thin Films Tuesday Sessions
       Session TF2-TuM

Paper TF2-TuM11
Atomic Layer Deposition of Nickel Oxide Films Using Ni(dmamp)@sub 2@ and Water

Tuesday, November 16, 2004, 11:40 am, Room 303C

Session: ALD and Applications
Presenter: Y. Kim, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology
Authors: T.S. Yang, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology
W. Cho, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology
M. Kim, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology
K.-S. An, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology
T.-M. Chung, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology
C.G. Kim, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology
Y. Kim, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology
Correspondent: Click to Email
A novel precursor synthesized for the chemical vapor deposition of metallic nickel, Ni(dmamp)@sub 2@ (dmamp = 1-dimethylamino-2-methyl-2-propanolate), has been tested for its use as a nickel source for the atomic layer deposition of nickel oxide (NiO) using water (H@sub 2@O) as the oxygen source. The precursor is a solid at room temperature, but readily sublimes at 90 °C. The ALD temperature window for this precursor is between 90 °C and 150 °C. The NiO films deposited on Si(001) at 120 °C were characterized by x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The growth rate of the films was found to be ~0.8 Å/cycle by ellipsometry. The XRD pattern showed no distinct peaks for NiO, indicating that the films deposited at this temperature were amorphous. XPS analysis showed the films to be stoichiometric with some carbon impurities. For a film with the thickness of 820 Å (with 1000 cycles) the rms surface roughness was only ~4 Å as measured by AFM. To elucidate the ALD mechanism of the Ni precursor with water, a quadrupole mass analyzer was employed using D@sub 2@O in lieu of H@sub 2@O. It was found that after a Ni precursor pulse no reaction seemed to take place, however, after a D@sub 2@O pulse, decomposition of the precursor was detected. It is speculated that when the precursor is sent to the substrate (or growing film) it is coordinated to the surface OH groups and when water is introduced, it undergoes a decomposition process to produce a hydroxylated nickel oxide surface. At present, an effort is being made to reduce the amount of carbon impurities. We are also trying to devise a method to deposit metallic nickel using this precursor.