A1 Journal article (refereed)
Atomic Layer Deposition of Intermetallic Fe4Zn9 Thin Films from Diethyl Zinc (2022)

Ghiyasi, R., Philip, A., Liu, J., Julin, J., Sajavaara, T., Nolan, M., & Karppinen, M. (2022). Atomic Layer Deposition of Intermetallic Fe4Zn9 Thin Films from Diethyl Zinc. Chemistry of Materials, 34(11), 5241-5248. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.2c00907

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Ghiyasi, Ramin; Philip, Anish; Liu, Ji; Julin, Jaakko; Sajavaara, Timo; Nolan, Michael; Karppinen, Maarit

Journal or series: Chemistry of Materials

ISSN: 0897-4756

eISSN: 1520-5002

Publication year: 2022

Publication date: 22/05/2022

Volume: 34

Issue number: 11

Pages range: 5241-5248

Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)

Publication country: United States

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.2c00907

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/81290

Abstract

We present a new type of atomic layer deposition (ALD) process for intermetallic thin films, where diethyl zinc (DEZ) serves as a coreactant. In our proof-of-concept study, FeCl3 is used as the second precursor. The FeCl3 + DEZ process yields in situ crystalline Fe4Zn9 thin films, where the elemental purity and Fe/Zn ratio are confirmed by time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis (TOF-ERDA), Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analyses. The film thickness is precisely controlled by the number of precursor supply cycles, as expected for an ALD process. The reaction mechanism is addressed by computational density functional theory (DFT) modeling. We moreover carry out preliminary tests with CuCl2 and Ni(thd)2 in combination with DEZ to confirm that these processes yield Cu–Zn and Ni–Zn thin films with DEZ as well. Thus, we envision an opening of a new ALD approach based on DEZ for intermetallic/metal alloy thin films.

Keywords: atomic layer deposition; thin films; foils (films); physics

Free keywords: atomic layer deposition; deposition; energy; precursors; thin films

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

VIRTA submission year: 2022

JUFO rating: 3