Nanocrystalline Er 2 O 3 thin films have been grown on Si͑100͒ by low-pressure metallorganic chemical vapor deposition in the temperature range of 450-700°C using the tris͑isopropylcyclopentadienyl͒erbium precursor and O 2 . The growth kinetics has been investigated in real time using laser reflectance interferometry as a function of growth parameters, and three different steps have been highlighted: ͑i͒ the incubation, ͑ii͒ the nucleation, and ͑iii͒ the growth stages. It is demonstrated that functionalization of the Si substrate surface is important for shortening the incubation time and, consequently, reducing subcutaneous oxidation of the Si substrate and for preventing nonhomogeneous nucleation that yields rough films. The growth kinetics has been correlated with film properties. X-ray diffraction patterns show strongly ͑111͒ oriented Er 2 O 3 thin films even at temperature as low as 400°C; however, a deposition temperature of 600°C is optimal for obtaining films with highest refractive index and lowest surface roughness ͑root-mean-square = 0.4 nm͒. Transmission electron microscopy shows very sharp interfaces and compact films. Spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis of the optical properties shows a very high refractive index comparable to that of Er 2 O 3 single crystal and a very high transparency in the visible-ultraviolet energy photon range.Recently, the rare-earth metal oxides ͑REOs͒, either in the form of nanocrystals 1 or thin films, 2-6 have been the subject of intense research efforts because they exhibit interesting chemical and physical properties, such as high transparency from the ultraviolet to the infrared, high refractive index, good dielectric and insulating properties, and a relatively high static dielectric constant. 3,7 Therefore, thin films and coatings of REOs have great potentiality for applications in various fields of science and technology, including photonics, optics, semiconductor devices, and telecommunications. 8 Recently, REO films have also been studied as an alternative gate dielectric to replace SiO 2 in complementary-metal-oxidesemiconductor ͑CMOS͒ devices of the forthcoming generations. 3,9,10 Among these materials, erbium oxide ͑Er 2 O 3 ͒ has been believed to be a promising high-k oxide on silicon substrates. In fact, Er 2 O 3 has a lattice constant of ϳ10.54 Å, which is nearly two times the lattice constant of silicon, and, due to its small ionic radius, Ono and Katsumata 10 have reported that Er 2 O 3 reacts poorly with silicon during annealing, even at 900°C, compared to the other REOs, such as La 2 O 3 and Gd 2 O 3 .Physical approaches, including molecular beam epitaxy, 9,11 sputtering, 8 electron beam evaporation, 12-15 and atomic layer deposition ͑ALD͒, 16,17 have mainly been used to grow Er 2 O 3 thin films. Few reports exist on the metallorganic chemical vapor deposition ͑MOCVD͒ of Er 2 O 3 , which is particularly well suited to large-scale manufacturing procedures for microelectronics. [18][19][20] Thus far, precursors such as alkoxide and -diketonates, which are ...