Thin films of zirconium dioxide, ZrO2, have been deposited on silicon substrates by metal organic chemical vapor deposition using the single precursor zirconium 3-methyl-3-pentoxide, {Zr[OC(CH3)(C2H5)(2)](4), Zr(MP)(4)}, with no additional oxygen source, and the chemical vapor deposition reaction mechanism was also investigated. Zr(mp)(4) is a liquid at room temperature and shows an excellent one-step weight loss and a low residual weight less than 3% in its thermogravimetric analysis. The deposition rate was found to be similar to 13 angstrom/min at the substrate temperature of 300 degrees C with the activation energy of 33.5 kJ/mol, which was obtained at the moderate precursor temperature of 70 degrees C and 50 sccm of the N-2 carrier gas. By gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance analyses of the thermally decomposed vapor phase products collected during the deposition of ZrO2 films, it Was clearly found that the ZrO2 films are grown via beta-hydrogen elimination processes of the Zr(MP)(4) single precursor. An x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy investigation of the ZrO2 films revealed an almost negligible carbon incorporation, which indicates that, except for the beta-hydrogen elimination processes, no additional decomposition and/or recombination processes contributed to the growth of the ZrO2 films. The morphology, crystallinity, and electrical properties of the ZrO2 films were characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and capacitance-voltage measurements. (c) 2006 American Vacuum Society.