The preparation of Ru and
RuO2
thin films by organometallic chemical vapor deposition and an investigation of the films' properties are reported. Ru is of interest for metallization in integrated circuit fabrication because its thermodynamically stable oxide,
RuO2
, also exhibits metallic conductivity. As a result, oxidation during processing of Ru is a less critical concern than in current metallization technology. Taking advantage of the benefits of chemical vapor deposition, such as conformal coverage and low temperature, damage‐free deposition, we have deposited Ru,
RuO2
, and
normalRu/RuO2
by pyrolysis of three organoruthenium complexes. Films of a given phase composition were deposited under a wide variety of conditions and exhibited large variations in electrical resistivity and carbon content. The best Ru film, produced from
Ru3false(CO)12
at 300°C in vacuum, had a resistivity of 16.9 μΩ‐cm and exhibited excellent adhesion to Si and
SiO2
substrates. The best
RuO2
film, produced from
normalRufalse(C5H5)2
at 575°C in
O2
, had a resistivity of 89.9 μΩ‐cm and similarly exhibited excellent adhesion. Rutherford backscattering studies show that Ru and
RuO2
films are effective diffusion barriers between Al and Si up to annealing temperatures of about 550° and 600°C
false(1/2 normalh exposurefalse)
, respectively. Thus, they are significantly better than the currently used W films, which are only effective to about 500°C.