Films of silicon dioxide (SiO2) were deposited at room temperature by
means of catalyzed binary reaction sequence chemistry. The binary reac
tion SiCl4 + 2H(2)O --> SiO2 + 4HCl was separated into SiCl4 and H2O h
alf-reactions, and the half-reactions were then performed in an ABAB .
.. sequence and catalyzed with pyridine. The pyridine catalyst lowered
the deposition temperature from >600 to 300 kelvin and reduced the re
actant flux required for complete reactions from similar to 10(9) to s
imilar to 10(4) Langmuirs. Growth rates of similar to 2.1 angstroms pe
r AB reaction cycle were obtained at room temperature for reactant pre
ssures of 15 millitorr and 60-second exposure times with 200 millitorr
of pyridine. This catalytic technique may be general and should facil
itate the chemical vapor deposition of other oxide and nitride materia
ls.