Inherently Area-Selective Atomic Layer Deposition of Manganese Oxide through Electronegativity-Induced Adsorption

Manganese oxide (MnO(x)) shows great potential in the areas of nano-electronics, magnetic devices and so on. Since the characteristics of precise thickness control at the atomic level and self-align lateral patterning, area-selective deposition (ASD) of the MnO(x) films can be used in some key steps of nanomanufacturing. In this work, MnO(x) films are deposited on Pt, Cu and SiO(2) substrates using Mn(EtCp)(2) and H(2)O over a temperature range of 80–215 °C. Inherently area-selective atomic layer deposition (ALD) of MnO(x) is successfully achieved on metal/SiO(2) patterns. The selectivity improves with increasing deposition temperature within the ALD window. Moreover, it is demonstrated that with the decrease of electronegativity differences between M (M = Si, Cu and Pt) and O, the chemisorption energy barrier decreases, which affects the initial nucleation rate. The inherent ASD aroused by the electronegativity differences shows a possible method for further development and prediction of ASD processes.