Direct liquid injection chemical vapor deposition of ZrO2 films from a heteroleptic Zr precursor: interplay between film characteristics and corrosion protection of stainless steel

The direct liquid injection chemical vapor deposition (DLI-CVD) of uniform and dense zirconium oxide (ZrO2) thin films applicable as corrosion protection coatings (CPCs) is reported. We present the entire development chain from rational choice thermal evaluation suitable heteroleptic precursor [Zr(OiPr)2(tbaoac)2] over detailed DLI-CVD process design finally benchmarking CPC behavior using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). For a thorough growth process, temperature (Tdep) varied in range 400 – 700 °C on Si(100) stainless steel (AISI 304) substrates. Resulting are thoroughly analyzed terms structure, composition, morphology. Grazing incidence X-ray diffractometry (GIXRD) reveals an onset crystallization at Tdep ≥ 500 yielding monoclinic even cubic phase low temperatures. At = °C, isotropic XRD amorphous material shown to feature crystalline domains interfacial region revealed by electron diffraction. Corrosion results obtained through EIS measurements further immersion tests improved characteristic for processed ZrO2 compared ones deposited valuable insights into correlation between parameter performance which high relevance future exploration CPCs.