Patent ID: 8012442

Claim:
A method for forming a mixed rare earth nitride or a mixed rare earth aluminum nitride film, comprising: disposing a substrate in a process chamber; and exposing the substrate to a gas pulse sequence to deposit a mixed rare earth nitride film or a mixed rare earth aluminum nitride film with a desired thickness, wherein the gas pulse sequence includes, in any order: a) sequentially first, exposing the substrate to a gas pulse comprising a first rare earth precursor, and second, exposing the substrate to a gas pulse comprising a nitrogen-containing gas; b) sequentially first, exposing the substrate to a gas pulse comprising a second rare earth precursor, and second, exposing the substrate to a gas pulse comprising the nitrogen-containing gas, wherein the first and second rare earth precursors contain different rare earth metal elements of differing and mismatched atomic sizes; and c) optionally, sequentially first, exposing the substrate to a gas pulse containing an aluminum precursor and second, exposing the substrate to a gas pulse containing the nitrogen-containing gas, wherein each of a), b) and optionally c) are optionally repeated any number of desired times, wherein the gas pulse sequence including a), b) and optionally c) is optionally repeated, in any order, any number of desired times to achieve the desired thickness, and wherein the different rare earth metal elements are in solid solution in the mixed rare earth nitride or the mixed rare earth aluminum nitride film and wherein the mixed rare earth nitride or the mixed rare earth aluminum nitride film has a dielectric constant that is greater than the dielectric constant of a nitride or an aluminum nitride film having only one of the different rare earth metal elements present in the mixed rare earth nitride or the mixed rare earth aluminum nitride film.