A process for the deposition of thin layers by chemical vapor deposition includes adding an effective amount of nitroxyl radicals of the formula to a gas stream including the materials to be deposited. In this formula, R1 and R2 are identical or different alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, acyl, or aryl radicals, with or without heteroatoms. R1 and R2 can also together form a structure —CR3R4—CR5R6—CR7R8—CR9R10—CR11R12—, where R3, R4, R5, R6, R7, R8, R9, R10, R11, R12 are again identical or different alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, acyl, or aryl radicals, with or without heteroatoms.