Vapor Phase Growth of Metal-Oxide Thin Films and Nanostructures

The vapor phase growth of metal oxides has been utilized in a wide range of areas including electronics, optics, and protective coating technologies. Within this short review, we introduce the basic concepts of vapor phase growth, in particular chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD), as scalable growth processes to achieve demanding technology requirements. We then focus this article toward the miniaturization of electronic devices, where vapor phase processes can enable high-quality material growth, at the atomic layer of precision, both in terms of thickness and conformality over complex device topographies. To illustrate these points, we describe how the specific advantages of these deposition techniques have been applied to the growth of two material classes, namely, ferroelectric oxides and dielectric oxides and discuss where vapor phase growth has made, or has the potential to make, significant advances in technology.