Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of carbon-free ZnO using the bis(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato)zinc precursor

Bis(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato)zinc [Zn(TMHD)(2)] is a relatively uninvestigated precursor that was used in this work to grow highly c-axis-oriented ZnO films on Si(100). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies before and after Ar ion sputtering indicated that surface carbon on several samples was reduced from as much as 34 at.% to much less than 1 at.% within the first 5 nm, indicating very clean Zn(TMHD)2 precursor decomposition. Microstructural and compositional analysis revealed columnar ZnO grains with domain widths of approximately half the total film thickness and a Zn-to-O atomic percent ratio indicative of stoichometric ZnO.