Patent ID: 7077904

Claim:
In a method for forming a silicon oxide film on a surface of a substrate using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process, the improvement comprising the sequential steps of: (a) exposing a substrate having —OH groups adsorbed on a surface thereof to a first catalyst suitable for activating at least a portion of the hydrogen of the —OH groups; (b) simultaneously with and/or following step (a), exposing the substrate surface to a first source of hexachloro disilane (Si 2 Cl 6 ) to form an oxygen/silicon/chlorine complex along the substrate surface; (c) following step (b), exposing the substrate surface to a second catalyst suitable for activating at least a portion of the chlorine in the oxygen/silicon/chlorine complex along the substrate surface; and, (d) following step (c), exposing the substrate surface to an oxygen source to react with the activated chlorine to form a silicon oxide layer consisting essentially of silicon dioxide with —OH groups along the substrate surface.