Clean oriented Al2O3 thin film with a dominant Al2O3 < 113 > plane was deposited on Si < 100 > substrate at 550 degrees C, by single-source chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using aluminium(III) diisopropylcarbamate, Al-2 ((O2CNPr2)-Pr-i)(6). This process represents a substantial reduction in typical CVD film growth temperatures which are typically >1000 degrees C. Through the studies of thermal stability of this precursor, we propose a specific beta-elimination decomposition pathway to account for the low temperature of the precursor decomposition at the substrate, and for the lack of carbon impurity byproducts in the resulting alumina films that are characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and depth profiling. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.