Deposition and characterization of ZrO₂ thin films on silicon substrate by MOCVD

ZrO₂ thin films were deposited at 1 atm on Si substrates by oxidation-assisted thermal decomposition of zirconium-trifluoroacetylacetonate in the temperature range of 300–615 °C. Above a deposition temperature of 400 °C, the deposited thin films have a columnar grain structure, where each grain is perpendicular to the substrate surface with a c-axis preferred crystallographic orientation, and have poor electrical characteristics as a dielectric thin film. But the thin film deposited at 350 °C has a fine equiaxed microcrystalline structure and has superior electrical characteristics of a breakdown field of 1 MV/cm and a relative dielectric constant of 27.