Chemical vapor deposition of tantalum carbide and carbonitride thin films from Me3CETa(CH2CMe3)3 (E = CH, N)Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: AFM and SEM images of TaC and TaCN films deposited on Si(100) at 773, 823 and 923 K. See http://www.rsc.org/suppdata/jm/b2/b208129f/

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of thin films employing Me3CCHTa(CH2CMe3)3 and Me3CNTa(CH2CMe3)3 as the precursors has been carried out. TaC and TaCN films were deposited at relatively low temperatures (623–923 K). In comparison, using Me3CNTa(CH2CMe3)3, the TaN bond did not undergo cleavage during the reaction and the N atom was incorporated into the film as nitride. The volatile components evolved were collected and examined by GC–MS, FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. Possible decomposition pathways of the tantalum complexes are proposed to rationalize the observation.