Probing the Atomic-Scale Structure of Amorphous Aluminum Oxide Grown by Atomic Layer Deposition

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a well-established technique for depositing nanoscale coatings with pristine control of film thickness and composition. The trimethylaluminum (TMA) and water (H₂O) ALD chemistry is inarguably the most widely used and yet to date, we have little information about the atomic-scale structure of the amorphous aluminum oxide (AlO) formed by this chemistry. This lack of understanding hinders our ability to establish process-structure-property relationships and ultimately limits technological advancements employing AlO made via ALD. In this work, we employ synchrotron high-energy X-ray diffraction (HE-XRD) coupled with pair distribution function (PDF) analysis to characterize the atomic structure of amorphous AlO ALD coatings. We combine ex situ and in operando HE-XRD measurements on ALD AlO and fit these experimental data using stochastic structural modeling to reveal variations in the Al-O bond length, Al and O coordination environment, and extent of Al vacancies as a function of growth conditions. In particular, the local atomic structure of ALD AlO is found to change with the substrate and number of ALD cycles. The observed trends are consistent with the formation of bulk Al₂O₃ surrounded by an O-rich surface layer. We deconvolute these data to reveal atomic-scale structural information for both the bulk and surface phases. Overall, this work demonstrates the usefulness of HE-XRD and PDF analysis in improving our understanding of the structure of amorphous ALD thin films and provides a pathway to evaluate how process changes impact the structure and properties of ALD films.