Method of growing electrical conductors by reducing metal oxide film with organic compound containing -OH, -CHO, or -COOH

A method of producing a conductive thin film comprising the steps of:

• A. placing a substrate in a chamber;
• B. exposing the substrate to a gaseous first reactant, wherein the first reactant adsorbs no more than a monolayer of metal species on the substrate;
• C. removing gases from the chamber;
• D. exposing the substrate to a second gaseous reactant comprising a compound that is capable of oxidizing the adsorbed metal species on the substrate into metal oxide;
• E. removing gases from the chamber;
• F. repeating the above steps B through E at least three times to form a metal oxide film;
• and
• G. following step F, exposing the substrate to one or more organic compounds that contains at least one functional group selected from the group consisting of —OH, —CHO and —COOH and that reduces the metal oxide film to metal.