Inhibiting Metal Oxide Atomic Layer Deposition: Beyond Zinc Oxide

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of several metal oxides is selectivity inhibited on alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on Au, and the eventual nucleation mechanism is investigated. The inhibition ability of the SAM is significantly improved by the in situ H₂-plasma pretreatment of the Au substrate prior to the gas-phase deposition of a long-chain alkanethiol, 1-dodecanethiol (DDT). This more rigorous surface preparation inhibits even aggressive oxide ALD precursors, including trimethylaluminum and water, for at least 20 cycles. We study the effect that the ALD precursor purge times, growth temperature, alkanethiol chain length, alkanethiol deposition time, and plasma treatment time have on Al₂O₃ ALD inhibition. This is the first example of Al₂O₃ ALD inhibition from a vapor-deposited SAM. The inhibitions of Al₂O₃, ZnO, and MnO ALD processes are compared, revealing the versatility of this selective surface treatment. Atomic force microscopy and grazing-incidence X-ray fluorescence further reveal insight into the mechanism by which the well-defined surface chemistry of ALD may eventually be circumvented to allow metal oxide nucleation and growth on SAM-modified surfaces.