Room temperature atomic layer deposition of niobium oxide using plasma excited humidified argon and its application to anticorrosion to hydrochloric acid

Abstract

Room temperature (RT) atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Nb2O5 is developed using (tert-butylimido)tris(ethylmethylamido)niobium and a plasma excited humidified Ar. To design the process condition, an in situ monitoring system of IR absorption spectroscopy (IRAS) is utilized to observe the surface saturation of precursors. Based on the saturation characteristics of precursors measured from IRAS, the gas injection condition and oxidization time are determined, where the RT Nb2O5 deposition with a growth per cycle of 0.11 nm is confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The RT deposited Nb2O5 film exhibits clear anticorrosion to hydrochloric acid. The reaction mechanism of ALD growth and the applicability of anticorrosion film with RT deposited N2O5 are discussed in this paper.