Atomic Layer Deposition of the Metal Pyrites FeS2, CoS2, and NiS2

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of the pyrite-type metal disulfides FeS2, CoS2, and NiS2 is reported for the first time. The deposition processes use iron, cobalt, and nickel amidinate compounds as the corresponding metal precursors and the H2S plasma as the sulfur source. All the processes are demonstrated to follow ideal self-limiting ALD growth behavior to produce fairly pure, smooth, well-crystallized, stoichiometric pyrite FeS2, CoS2, and NiS2 films. By these processes, the FeS2, CoS2, and NiS2 films can also be uniformly and conformally deposited into deep narrow trenches with aspect ratios as high as 10:1, which thereby highlights the broad and promising applicability of these ALD processes for conformal film coatings on complex high-aspect-ratio 3D architectures in general.