Methodology for in-situ doping of aluminum coatings

A chemical vapor deposition process for the in-situ preparation of conformal, copper-doped aluminum coatings on a substrate in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor comprising the steps of:

• a. heating said substrate to a temperature of 225-300° C.;
• b. generating a flow of first reactant vapor directed to said substrate in said reactor, said first reactant vapor including a copper source precursor chosen from copper N,N′-dimethylketenimidate, copper (II) hexafluoroacetylacetonate, or copper (I) trimethylvinylsilane;
• c. decomposing said first reactant vapor and depositing, directly on a surface of the substrate, a conformal copper layer with thickness of less than 10 nanometers;
• d. generating a flow of second reactant vapor directed to said substrate in said reactor, said second reactant vapor consisting of an aluminum source precursor chosen from dimethylethylaluminum alane and dimethylaluminum hydride, and optionally, a carrier gas;
• and
• e. decomposing said second reactant vapor and depositing a conformal copper-containing aluminum film over said copper layer.