Surface reaction kinetics of room temperature atomic layer deposition of ZnO observed by in situ IR absorption spectroscopy

Abstract

Room temperature (RT) atomic layer deposition (ALD) of ZnO is developed by using a precursor of dimethyl zinc (DMZ) and plasma excited humidified argon. Surface reactions of RT ALD of ZnO are investigated by an in situ observation of multiple internal reflection IR absorption spectroscopy. The saturation condition of DMZ and plasma excited humidified argon is discussed by the IR absorbance spectra measured from the sample surface. In the ALD experiment, the grown film is identified as the fully oxidized ZnO by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The growth per cycle is measured to be 0.046 nm/cycle. In this paper, the authors will discuss the mechanism of surface reaction in the ALD process.