Effect of crystalline structure of TiO2 substrates on initial growth of atomic layer deposited Ru thin films

Ru thin films were grown on polymorphic TiO2 thin film substrates at 230 and 250 °C by atomic layer deposition using 2,4-(dimethylpentadienyl)(ethylcyclopentadienyl)Ru and an O2 gas. While the Ru films grown on amorphous and rutile TiO2 substrates showed a relatively long incubation cycle number of approximately 350 and 100 at 230 and 250 °C, respectively, the Ru films grown on anatase TiO2 substrates exhibited a significantly shorter incubation delay which was attributed to the catalytic activity of anatase TiO2. This difference in the incubation cycle affected the surface morphology of the Ru films on different TiO2 substrates.