N-methyl-N’, N’-dimethylethylene-/-propylene-diaminodithiocarbamato-metal complexes as single source precursors for metal sulfide semiconductors materials

• Main Author: Alghamdi, Yousef Gamaan A.
• Other Authors: O'Brien, Paul; Prabhakar, John Thomas
• Published: University of Manchester 2013
• Subjects: 530.4
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.576842

A series of N-methyl-N’,N’-dimethylethylene-/-propylene-diaminodithiocarbamato-metal complexes [M(S2CN(Me)(CH2)nN(Me)2)2] (M = Zn, Cd, Cu, Ni; n = 2 or 3), [M(S2CN(Me)(CH2)nN(Me)2)3] (M = Co, In; n = 2 or 3), [M(S2CN(Me)(CH2)nN(Me)2)] (M = Ag; n = 3) has been synthesized and characterised by microelemental analysis, NMR (1H, 13C), IR and some by X-ray crystallography. X-ray single crystal structures for [M(S2CN(Me)(CH2)nN(Me)2)2] (M = Zn, Cd, n = 2 or 3) and [M(S2CN(Me)(CH2)nN(Me)2)3] (M = In; n = 2 or 3) have been determined. Zinc and cadmium structures are polymers. All polymerise through the nitrogen of dimethylamino group to the metal atoms. Both indium structures are monomers where each indium is bonded with six sulphur atoms from three bidentate dithiocarbamato ligands.All twelve metal complexes were solids and stable to air and moisture for periods of several months hence potentially useful as single source precursor for metal sulfide thin films. Metal sulfide thin films including zinc sulfide, cadmium sulfide, copper sulfide, nickel sulfide, cobalt sulfide, indium sulfide, copper indium sulfide, silver indium sulfide, and cadmium zinc sulfide were deposited by aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) method. Deposition from each precursor was carried out at three different (300, 400 and 500 °C) temperatures to investigate the effect of deposition temperature on the size and shape of crystallites as well as phase of the material. All deposited films were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (p-XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Mostly good quality, adhesive and specular thin films of these materials were obtained. p-XRD showed significant changes in the phase of materials depending upon the growth temperature. SEM and AFM images showed the morphology of the films was strongly linked to the deposition temperature. This is the first systematic study on N-methyl-N’,N’-dimethylethylene-/-propylene-diaminodithiocarbamatometal complexes and their use as single source precursors for the metal sulfide thin films.