Patent ID: 7646084

Claim:
A deposition system, comprising: a process chamber having a vapor distribution system; a substrate holder positioned in the process chamber below the vapor distribution system and configured for supporting and heating a substrate; a metal precursor evaporation system configured for heating a solid metal-carbonyl precursor to form a metal-carbonyl precursor vapor; a carbon monoxide (CO) gas source coupled to the metal precursor evaporation system and configured for mixing a CO gas with the metal-carbonyl precursor vapor by flowing the CO gas over or through the solid metal-carbonyl precursor to form a process gas containing the metal-carbonyl precursor vapor and the CO gas; a precursor delivery system configured for transporting the process gas from the metal precursor evaporation system and for introducing the process gas to the vapor distribution system; a dilution gas source coupled to the process chamber and configured for adding a dilution gas to the process gas in the process chamber to form a diluted process gas; and a controller configured for controlling the deposition system during exposure of the substrate to the diluted process gas to deposit a metal layer on the substrate by a thermal chemical vapor deposition process.