Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
A new model, based on irreversible reactions, is used to describe surface kinetics in copper Chemical Vapour Deposition. The mechanism proposed includes a reduction reaction with hydrogen parallel to the well-known disproportionation reaction of Cu(hfac)VTMS. This reduction reaction, not easily modelled by Langmuir-Hinshelwood-type models, appears to be important only at sufficiently high hydrogen partial pressures. The rate constants of the precursor adsorption reaction and the disproportionation reaction are low, probably caused by the dissociation included in these reactions.