A novel process to improve the surface roughness of RuO2 film deposited bymetallorganic chemical vapor deposition

We demonstrate that the surface roughness of metallorganic chemical vapor d eposited RuO2 is significantly decreased by plasma treatment before the dep osition of the film. The root mean square (rms) value of the surface roughn ess is decreased from similar to 25 to 3 nm by applying O-2 plasma for 5 mi n prior to the deposition of an similar to 200 nm thick layer of RuO2. Othe r plasma gases such as H-2 and Ar also decrease the rms value of the surfac e roughness, but are not as effective as O-2 plasma. The decrease of surfac e roughness is attributed to the enhancement of nucleation density at the i nitial stages of film growth. (C) 1998 The Electrochemical Society. S1099-0 062(98)06-055-6. All rights reserved.