Composition and microstructure of cobalt oxide thin films obtained from a novel cobalt(II) precursor by Chemical Vapor Deposition

The present work reports the synthesis and the characterization of cobalt oxide thin filmsobtained by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates, using acobalt(II) beta-diketonate as precursor. The complex is characterized by electron impact massspectrometry (EI-MS) and thermal analysis in order to investigate its decomposition pattern.The depositions are carried out in a cold wall reactor in the temperature range 350-500 °Cat different oxygen pressures, to tailor film composition from CoO to Co3O4. The crystallinenanostructure is evidenced by X-ray diffraction (XRD), while the surface and in-depthchemical composition is studied by X-ray photoelectron (XPS) and X-ray excited auger electronspectroscopy (XE-AES). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is employed to analyze the surfacemorphology of the films and its dependence on the synthesis conditions. Relevant resultsconcerning the control of composition and microstructure of Co-O thin films are presentedand discussed.