A low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor was modified to produce compositional spreads of TiO2/HfO2/SnO2 and ZrO2/HfO2/SnO2 on a single Si(1 0 0) wafer. Use of anhydrous metal nitrates as single-source precursors allowed the deposition kinetics to be matched. The compositions were mapped using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. On a single wafer, an array of capacitors each with a dimension of 100 mum x 100 mum was used to map the effective dielectric constant of the films. The dielectric constant reached a maximum in the regions with the high TiO2 or ZrO2 content. A unique crystalline phase having the orthorhombic alpha-PbO2 structure was detected in the films grown at or above 450 degreesC. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.