Issue 29, 2022

A low-temperature thermal ALD process for nickel utilizing dichlorobis(triethylphosphine)nickel(ii) and 1,4-bis(trimethylgermyl)-1,4-dihydropyrazine

Abstract

In this work, we developed a new ALD process for nickel metal from dichlorobis(triethylphosphine)nickel(II) (NiCl2(PEt3)2) and 1,4-bis(trimethylgermyl)-1,4-dihydropyrazine ((Me3Ge)2DHP). A series of phosphine adducts of nickel and cobalt halides were synthesized and characterized for their volatility and thermal stability. Also (Me3Ge)2DHP is a novel reducing agent in ALD. Smooth nickel films were deposited on different substrate materials at 110 °C, which is the lowest deposition temperature for Ni metal found in the literature. The growth rate is 0.2 Å per cycle when the film is not continuous and decreases to 0.1 Å per cycle after the film becomes pinhole-free. Besides a small amount (7 at%) of carbidic carbon, the films have only small amounts of impurities. Most notably, the chlorine content is below 0.2 at%, indicating efficient reduction. Furthermore, we think that (Me3Ge)2DHP can open new avenues for the ALD of other metals at low temperatures.

Graphical abstract: A low-temperature thermal ALD process for nickel utilizing dichlorobis(triethylphosphine)nickel(ii) and 1,4-bis(trimethylgermyl)-1,4-dihydropyrazine

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 Apr 2022
Accepted
24 Jun 2022
First published
25 Jun 2022
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Dalton Trans., 2022,51, 10898-10908

A low-temperature thermal ALD process for nickel utilizing dichlorobis(triethylphosphine)nickel(II) and 1,4-bis(trimethylgermyl)-1,4-dihydropyrazine

A. Vihervaara, T. Hatanpää, K. Mizohata, M. Chundak, G. Popov and M. Ritala, Dalton Trans., 2022, 51, 10898 DOI: 10.1039/D2DT01347A

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