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Aerosol‐Assisted Chemical‐Vapour Deposition of Zinc Oxide from Single‐Source β‐Iminoesterate Precursors
Author(s) -
Manzi Joe A.,
Knapp Caroline E.,
Parkin Ivan P.,
Carmalt Claire J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
european journal of inorganic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1099-0682
pISSN - 1434-1948
DOI - 10.1002/ejic.201500416
Subject(s) - x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , chemistry , zinc , chemical vapor deposition , thin film , wurtzite crystal structure , analytical chemistry (journal) , scanning electron microscope , inorganic chemistry , crystallography , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , nanotechnology , materials science , engineering , composite material
Single‐source zinc β‐iminoesterate precursors have been used for the first time in the aerosol‐assisted chemical‐vapour deposition (AACVD) of ZnO thin films. Depositions at 450 °C on silica‐coated glass substrates produced strongly adherent films with excellent coverage of the substrate. The zinc β‐iminoesterates [Zn(L 1 ) 2 ] ( 1 ) and [Zn(L 2 ) 2 ] ( 2 ) were synthesised by the reaction between ZnEt 2 and 2 equiv. of a synthesised β‐iminoester ligand CH 3 C[NHCH(CH 3 ) 2 ]CHC(O)OCH 2 CH 3 (L 1 ) and CH 3 C(NHCH 3 )CHC(O)OCH 2 CH 3 (L 2 ). The synthesised complexes were isolated and characterised by 1 H and 13 C NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and thermal gravitational analysis (TGA). The structures of the compounds were determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. The ZnO films deposited from 1 and 2 were analyzed by glancing‐angle X‐ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and their optical properties determined by UV/Vis/NIR transmission spectroscopy. These results reveal that the organic ligand attached to the N moiety of the zinc complex has a significant effect on the level of carbon incorporated into the deposited thin film. Upon annealing, highly transparent hexagonal wurtzite ZnO thin films were produced.