Atomic Layer Deposition of Superconductive Niobium Carbonitride Thin Films

Paloma Ruiz Kärkkäinen; Anton Vihervaara; Timo Hatanpää; Katja Kohopää; Mikko J Heikkilä; Marco Marín-Suárez; Kestutis Grigoras; Kenichiro Mizohata; Georgi Popov; Mykhailo Chundak; Antti Kemppinen; Matti Putkonen; Mikko Ritala

doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.5c01456

Atomic Layer Deposition of Superconductive Niobium Carbonitride Thin Films

Paloma Ruiz Kärkkäinen^*
, Anton Vihervaara
, Timo Hatanpää
, Katja Kohopää
, Mikko J Heikkilä
, Marco Marín-Suárez
, Kestutis Grigoras
, Kenichiro Mizohata
, Georgi Popov
, Mykhailo Chundak
, Antti Kemppinen
, Matti Putkonen
, Mikko Ritala^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

University of Helsinki
VTT (former employee or external)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

Transition metal carbonitrides (TMCN) are stable materials with excellent catalytic and superconductive properties. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) stands out as the optimal method for the fabrication of these materials, enabling their use in future applications. In this study, we deposit ALD NbC x N y films at 250-450 °C with NbF5 and 1,4-bis-(trimethylsilyl)-1,4-dihydropyrazine on Si, Ru, TiN, and soda lime glass. We analyze the film growth characteristics, composition, and phase. The films show substrate-enhanced growth on Si with a growth per cycle (GPC) of 1.3 Å. Additionally, the films were superconductive as-deposited and had a superconducting critical temperature (T c ) of 14.5 K after annealing at 950 °C. This work expands the range of TMCNs deposited by ALD and demonstrates the applicability of ALD for thin film materials with a high T c .

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	6770-6781
Journal	Chemistry of Materials
Volume	37
Issue number	17
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5c01456
Publication status	Published - 9 Sept 2025
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

ASM Microchemistry Oy and the Doctoral Program in Materials Research and Nanoscience (MATRENA) are acknowledged for funding this research. G.P. acknowledges funding from Research Council of Finland (Decision No. 330086). Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation (Project: Novel materials for energy efficient microelectronics) is gratefully acknowledged for research funding. VTT acknowledges funding from Research Council of Finland grants 35220/QuantLearn and 359284/Finnish Quantum Flagship and European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement 899558 aCryComm).

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Cite this

Ruiz Kärkkäinen, P., Vihervaara, A., Hatanpää, T., Kohopää, K., Heikkilä, M. J., Marín-Suárez, M., Grigoras, K., Mizohata, K., Popov, G., Chundak, M., Kemppinen, A., Putkonen, M., & Ritala, M. (2025). Atomic Layer Deposition of Superconductive Niobium Carbonitride Thin Films. Chemistry of Materials, 37(17), 6770-6781. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5c01456

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title = "Atomic Layer Deposition of Superconductive Niobium Carbonitride Thin Films",

abstract = "Transition metal carbonitrides (TMCN) are stable materials with excellent catalytic and superconductive properties. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) stands out as the optimal method for the fabrication of these materials, enabling their use in future applications. In this study, we deposit ALD NbC x N y films at 250-450 °C with NbF5 and 1,4-bis-(trimethylsilyl)-1,4-dihydropyrazine on Si, Ru, TiN, and soda lime glass. We analyze the film growth characteristics, composition, and phase. The films show substrate-enhanced growth on Si with a growth per cycle (GPC) of 1.3 {\AA}. Additionally, the films were superconductive as-deposited and had a superconducting critical temperature (T c ) of 14.5 K after annealing at 950 °C. This work expands the range of TMCNs deposited by ALD and demonstrates the applicability of ALD for thin film materials with a high T c .",

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Ruiz Kärkkäinen, P, Vihervaara, A, Hatanpää, T, Kohopää, K, Heikkilä, MJ, Marín-Suárez, M , Grigoras, K, Mizohata, K, Popov, G, Chundak, M, Kemppinen, A, Putkonen, M & Ritala, M 2025, 'Atomic Layer Deposition of Superconductive Niobium Carbonitride Thin Films', Chemistry of Materials, vol. 37, no. 17, pp. 6770-6781. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.5c01456

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T1 - Atomic Layer Deposition of Superconductive Niobium Carbonitride Thin Films

AU - Ruiz Kärkkäinen, Paloma

AU - Vihervaara, Anton

AU - Hatanpää, Timo

AU - Kohopää, Katja

AU - Heikkilä, Mikko J

AU - Marín-Suárez, Marco

AU - Grigoras, Kestutis

AU - Mizohata, Kenichiro

AU - Popov, Georgi

AU - Chundak, Mykhailo

AU - Kemppinen, Antti

AU - Putkonen, Matti

AU - Ritala, Mikko

PY - 2025/9/9

Y1 - 2025/9/9

N2 - Transition metal carbonitrides (TMCN) are stable materials with excellent catalytic and superconductive properties. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) stands out as the optimal method for the fabrication of these materials, enabling their use in future applications. In this study, we deposit ALD NbC x N y films at 250-450 °C with NbF5 and 1,4-bis-(trimethylsilyl)-1,4-dihydropyrazine on Si, Ru, TiN, and soda lime glass. We analyze the film growth characteristics, composition, and phase. The films show substrate-enhanced growth on Si with a growth per cycle (GPC) of 1.3 Å. Additionally, the films were superconductive as-deposited and had a superconducting critical temperature (T c ) of 14.5 K after annealing at 950 °C. This work expands the range of TMCNs deposited by ALD and demonstrates the applicability of ALD for thin film materials with a high T c .

AB - Transition metal carbonitrides (TMCN) are stable materials with excellent catalytic and superconductive properties. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) stands out as the optimal method for the fabrication of these materials, enabling their use in future applications. In this study, we deposit ALD NbC x N y films at 250-450 °C with NbF5 and 1,4-bis-(trimethylsilyl)-1,4-dihydropyrazine on Si, Ru, TiN, and soda lime glass. We analyze the film growth characteristics, composition, and phase. The films show substrate-enhanced growth on Si with a growth per cycle (GPC) of 1.3 Å. Additionally, the films were superconductive as-deposited and had a superconducting critical temperature (T c ) of 14.5 K after annealing at 950 °C. This work expands the range of TMCNs deposited by ALD and demonstrates the applicability of ALD for thin film materials with a high T c .

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EP - 6781

JO - Chemistry of Materials

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Atomic Layer Deposition of Superconductive Niobium Carbonitride Thin Films

Abstract

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Atomic Layer Deposition of Superconductive Niobium Carbonitride Thin Films

Abstract

Funding

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QuantLearn: Diverse computing ecosystem for quantum machine learning via optical links

aCryComm: attojoule Cryogenic Communication

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