MOx materials by ALD method

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a thin film growth technique belonging to the chemical vapor phase processing methods. It is based on self-terminating surface reactions of gaseous precursors, a metal-containing one and a coreactant (an oxidant agent for metal oxide deposition), delivered separately onto the substrate. The typical ALD process temperature varies from room temperature up to 400°C, relatively low in respect to the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, making ALD compatible with thermal budgets typical of CMOS processes. Together with metal precursors, coreactants for oxide deposition are volatile oxygen sources, reactive enough at the deposition temperature to oxidize the metal precursor and to restore the initial surface groups. ALD allows the choice of a large variety of precursors and low deposition temperature range, and enables the deposition of very thin and conformal films with a precise control of stoichiometry.