Patent ID: 7459395

Claim:
A method of purifying a metal carbonyl precursor in a metal precursor vaporization system where the metal carbonyl precursor comprises a metal particulate impurity, the method comprising: flowing a CO-containing gas through the metal precursor vaporization system to a precursor collection system in fluid communication with the metal precursor vaporization system to separate the metal carbonyl precursor from the metal particulate impurity and to transfer the metal carbonyl precursor to the precursor collection system, wherein the metal particulate impurity includes at least one metal that is different from the metal of the metal carbonyl precursor; and collecting the transferred metal carbonyl precursor in the precursor collection system, wherein an amount of the metal particulate impurity is lower in the precursor collection system than in the precursor vaporization system and the precursor collection system is maintained at a lower temperature than the metal precursor vaporization system.