Growth of oxide thin films using solid oxygen sources

Claim 1

A method of fabricating a device including an oxide film R m O n , where R is at least one metal or at least one semiconductor, or combination thereof, and m and n are integers, comprising the steps of: (a) mounting a substrate in a chamber, (b) providing in the chamber a solid source of an oxygen compound, which is separate from the substrate and which does not contain R, (c) providing an unoxidized source of R in the chamber, and (d) heating the sources to evaporation, the evaporants reacting to form the oxide film R m O n on the substrate.

Claim 2

A method of fabricating a device including an oxide film R m O n , where R is at least one metal or at least one semiconductor, or combination thereof, and m and n are integers, comprising the steps of: (a) mounting a substrate in a chamber, (b) providing in the chamber a solid source of an oxygen compound, which is separate from the substrate and which does not contain R, (c) providing an unoxidized source of R in the chamber, and (d) heating the sources to evaporation, the evaporants reacting to form the oxide film R m O n on the substrate.

Claim 7

The method of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 wherein the oxide R m O n is selected from the group consisting of Al 2 O 3 , MgO, SiO 2 , and MgAl 2 O 4 .

Claim 9

The method of claims 1 or 2 including, after step (a), lowering the pressure of the chamber to a subatmospheric pressure.

Claim 10

The method of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 wherein the oxygen source comprises a binary oxide.

Claim 12

A method fabricating a device including an oxide film R m O n , where R is at least one metal or at least one semiconductor, or combination thereof, and m and n are integers, comprising the steps of: (a) mounting a substrate in an evacuable chamber, (b) lowering the pressure of the chamber to a subatmospheric pressure, (c) providing a solid oxygen source of an oxide M r O s which is separate from the substrate and which sublimates congruently, where M is at least one metal or at least one semiconductor, or a combination thereof, and R and M are mutually exclusive, (d) providing an unoxidized source of R in the chamber, (e) heating the sources to form molecular beams which react as follows: mR+M.sub.r O.sub.s →R.sub.m O.sub.n +M.sub.r O.sub.s-n thereby forming the oxide films R m O n on the substrate, where m r O s-n is less thermodynamically stable than the oxide R m O n , the temperature of the substrate is high enough to desorb M r O s-n , and r, s, m and n are integers.

Claim 13

A method fabricating a device including an oxide film R m O n , where R is at least one metal or at least one semiconductor, or combination thereof, and m and n are integers, comprising the steps of: (a) mounting a substrate in an evacuable chamber, (b) lowering the pressure of the chamber to a subatmospheric pressure, (c) providing a solid oxygen source of an oxide M r O s which is separate from the substrate and which sublimates congruently, where M is at least one metal or at least one semiconductor, or a combination thereof, and R and M are mutually exclusive, (d) providing an unoxidized source of R in the chamber, (e) heating the sources to form molecular beams which react as follows: mR+M.sub.r O.sub.s →R.sub.m O.sub.n +M.sub.r O.sub.s-n thereby forming the oxide films R m O n on the substrate, where m r O s-n is less thermodynamically stable than the oxide R m O n , the temperature of the substrate is high enough to desorb M r O s-n , and r, s, m and n are integers.