ZrO2 dielectric layers were grown on the p-type Si(l 0 0) substrate by metal-organic molecular beam epitaxy (MOMBE). Zrconium t-butoxide, Zr(O t-C4H9)(4) was used as a Zr precursor and argon gas was used as a carrier gas. The thickness of the ZrO2 film and intermediate SiO2 layer were measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The properties of the ZrO2 layers were evaluated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), high frequency (HF) capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurement, and current-voltage (I-V) measurement. C-Vand I-V measurements have shown that ZrO2 layer grown by MOMBE has a high dielectric constant (k) of 18-19 and a low-level of leakage current density. The growth rate is affected by various process variables such as substrate temperature, bubbler temperature, At, and O-2 gas flows. Since the ratio of O-2 and Ar gas flows are closely correlated, the effect of variations in O-2/Ar flow ratio on growth rate is also investigated using statistical modeling methodology. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.