Growth Mechanism, Ambient Stability, and Charge Trapping Ability of Ti-Based Maleic Acid Hybrid Films by Molecular Layer Deposition

Ti-based maleic acid (MA) hybrid films were successfully fabricated by molecular layer deposition (MLD) using organic precursor MA and inorganic precursor TiCl4. The effect of deposition temperature on the growth rate, composition, and bonding mode of hybrid thin films has been investigated systematically. With increasing temperature from 140 to 280 degrees C, the growth rate decreases from 1.42 to 0.16 A per MLD cycle with basically unchanged composition ratio of C:O:Ti in the films. Fourier transform infrared spectra indicate that all hybrid films show preference for bidentate bonding mode. Further analyses of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and in situ quartz crystal microbalance elucidate that as-deposited MLD Ti-MA hybrid films consist of inorganic addition, the density functional theory calculation was performed to investigate the possible reaction mechanism of the TiCl4-MA MLD process, which is well consistent with experimental results. More importantly, upon comparison with the TiCl4-fumaric acid MLD system, it is demonstrated that the cis- and trans-configurations of butenedioic acid influence the MLD growth, bonding mode, stability, and charging ability of MLD hybrid films. Ti-MA hybrid films exhibit better stability and charging ability than Ti-FA hybrid films, benefiting from the inorganic Ti-O-Ti units in the hybrid films.