Patent ID: 8318590

Claim:
A method for forming a thin film of a predetermined thickness on a substrate, comprising: a) moving the substrate to a first reaction space; b) contacting the substrate with a first precursor in the first reaction space, forming a first metal layer having a submonolayer coverage; then c) contacting the first metal layer with a hydrogen-containing species; and then d) moving the substrate to a second reaction space; e) contacting the substrate with a second precursor in the second reaction space, forming a second layer; and f) repeating steps (a)-(e) until the thin film with the predetermined thickness is formed, wherein the first precursor comprises at least one of a Group III element, wherein the second precursor comprises at least one of a Group V element; and wherein after step e), moving the substrate to a third reaction space and contacting the substrate with a third precursor in the third reaction space, wherein the third precursor comprises at least one of a Group III element and the Group III precursor is different from the Group III element in the first precursor.