A liquid alkoxide precursor for the atomic layer deposition of aluminum oxide films

For large-scale atomic layer deposition (ALD) of alumina, the most commonly used alkyl precursor trimethylaluminum poses safety issues due to its pyrophoric nature. In this work, the authors have investigated a liquid alkoxide, aluminum tri-sec-butoxide (ATSB), as a precursor for ALD deposition of alumina. ATSB is thermally stable and the liquid nature facilitates handling in a bubbler and potentially enables liquid injection toward upscaling. Both thermal and plasma enhanced ALD processes are investigated in a vacuum type reactor by using water, oxygen plasma, and water plasma as coreactants. All processes achieved ALD deposition at a growth rate of 1-1.4 angstrom/cycle for substrate temperatures ranging from 100 to 200 degrees C. Film morphology, surface roughness, and composition have been studied with different characterization techniques. Published under license by AVS.