A atomic layer deposition (ALD) program for aluminum molybdenum oxide (AlxMoyOz) films based on cyclic reactions of trimethylaluminum (TMA) and molybdenum dichloride dioxide (MoO2Cl2) is presented. The effect of adding water vapor to the ALD cycle (TMA–H2O–MoO2Cl2) has been studied. The film growth process was studied in situ using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). At an ALD temperature of 180°C, linear growth was observed for the TMA–MoO2Cl2 and TMA–H2O–MoO2Cl2 processes with a growth rate of 3.79 and 3.94 Å/cycle, respectively. According to X-ray reflectometry and diffraction data, the resulting films had an amorphous structure with a density of ~3.7 g/cm3 and a root-mean-square roughness in the range of 10–12 Å. Both types of films had similar compositions, containing Mo+6, Mo+5, and Mo+4.
Maksumova et al. (Sat,) studied this question.