Chemical vapor deposition

Claim 1

A process for depositing metallic ruthenium on a hot substrate comprising A. providing a solid, sublimable complex of ruthenium with a compound of formula R 1 --CO--CHR 2 --CO--R 3 , wherein each of R 1 and R 3 , which may be the same or different, is an alkyl, haloalkyl, alkoxy, aryl, or alkyl-, nitro-, or halosubstituted aryl group and R 2 is a hydrogen atom or an alkyl or haloalkyl group; B. subjecting said solid complex of ruthenium to a pressure of less than about 10 torr in a chamber C. heating said solid complex of ruthenium in said chamber to a temperature below its melting point to provide in said chamber vapor of said ruthenium complex; D. causing said vapor of said ruthenium complex to randomly impact on a substrate in said chamber separately heated to a temperature at which said ruthenium complex decomposes; and E. carrying out B, C and D aforesaid while maintaining a substantially constant static partial vacuum in said chamber, whereby vapor of ruthenium complex impacting on the heated substrate is caused to thermally decompose on said substrate to provide on said substrate a rapid build-up of a uniform layer of ruthenium metal.