Entropy stabilization has received a lot of attention as a new approach for the design of new materials. The few works in this area dealing with entropy stabilized oxide thin films use physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques. However, these techniques are not suitable for obtaining conformal deposition on a complex 3D substrate unlike chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
Here we present the synthesis of multi-cationic oxide (Mg0.2Co0.2Ni0.2Cu0.2Zn0.2)O by CVD using pulsed liquid injection on different substrates. The synthesis is performed between 400°C and 450°C from five metal-organic precursors of the β-diketonate family solubilized simultaneously in dimethoxyethane (DME).

Our polycrystalline films are composed of a slightly distorted cubic rocksalt multi-cationic phase with the possible presence of a ZnO wurtzite or CuO tenorite phase. After annealing at 950°C, the entropy stabilized phase is formed and all secondary phases disappear. The five cations are then randomly distributed throughout the crystal structure (Figure 1).
A comparison of the transport properties of the (MgCoNiCuZn)O thin films before and after annealing was carried out. This material is known for its very high resistivity. Its optical properties have also been studied by measuring its transmission absorbance.