Patent ID: 7135369

Claim:
A method of forming a dielectric layer comprising: pulsing a precursor containing zirconium onto a substrate in a cycle of an atomic layer deposition; pulsing a first precursor containing oxygen in the cycle; pulsing a precursor containing aluminum in the cycle; and pulsing a second precursor containing oxygen in the cycle to form ZrAl x O y by atomic layer deposition such that an interfacial layer between the substrate and the dielectric is limited to less than about 1 nm, wherein each precursor is individually pulsed and, following each of the pulsing of the precursors, a reaction chamber containing the substrate is purged with a purging gas, evacuated, or both purged with a purging gas and evacuated wherein the dielectric layer containing ZrAl x O y contains a substantial amount of Zr 4 AlO 9 .