Systematic variations of the deposition conditions for thin epitaxial SrRuO3 films with a liquid-delivery spin MOCVD were performed in order to get a detailed understanding of the physical and chemical issues in the growth process. We have observed that at very low as well as at high growth rates the structural ordering of the films and the lattice strain is low, while for optimized conditions (similar to 0.14-0.2 nm/min) films can be grown under high compressive strain on SrTiO3 and under tensile strain on DyScO3, showing an electrical resistivity of similar to 250 mu Omega cm. Films on NdGaO3 are nearly totally plastically relaxed. In contrast to PLD, step-flow growth could not be detected due to significantly higher carbon incorporation. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.