A Liquid Ge(IV) Precursor for Low Temperature Plasma Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition of Germanium Oxide Thin Films
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Germanium oxide thin films are promising for advanced applications such as microelectronics, optoelectronics, high-power electronics, optics, and biomedical uses. However, scalable and controlled low-temperature synthesis of GeO2 thin films via atomic layer deposition (ALD) is limited by the small range of available Ge precursors. We introduce monomeric tetrakis-3-(N,N-dimethylamino)propyl germanium(IV) [Ge(DMP)4] as a promising Ge precursor. It is non-pyrophoric, thermally stable, and liquid, and can be obtained in high purity on a multigram scale through an industrially feasible synthesis. Using density functional theory (DFT) and mass spectrometry (MS), we rationalize the coordination environment and identify a feasible chemisorption pathway, indicating a high reactivity of the precursor. Subsequently, [Ge(DMP)4] was employed in low-temperature plasma-enhanced ALD (PEALD) over a wide temperature range from 40°C to 240°C, yielding smooth, uniform germanium oxide films. Rapid and homogeneous nucleation leads to dense films with sub-nanometer thickness. By adjusting the deposition temperature and plasma duration, the film composition could be readily tuned from GeO2 to sub-stoichiometric GeOx. These findings establish [Ge(DMP)4] as an effective, scalable precursor for low-temperature ALD of GeO2, emphasizing the critical role of precursor chemistry in ALD process development.
Details
| Original language | English |
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| Article number | e11982 |
| Journal | Small |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 20 |
| Publication status | Published - 7 Apr 2026 |
| Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
| PubMed | 41709821 |
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Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- atomic layer deposition, density functional theory, main group elements, precursor design, thin films