Study of titanium amino-alkoxide derivatives as TiO2 Chemical Beam Vapour Deposition precursor

A series of compounds of the general formula [Ti(OiPr)(3)(L)](m) with L = dmae (1), dmap (2), dmamp (3) (where OiPr = isopropoxy, dmae = 2-dimethyl amino ethoxy, dmap = 1-dimethylamino-propan-2-oxy, dmamp = 1-dimethylamino-2-methyl-propan-2-oxy) was synthesized and completely characterized by NMR in the liquid phase. These compounds were then tested as precursors for the development of TiO2 thin films by Chemical Beam Vapour Deposition (CBVD) and compared to the standard [Ti(OiPr)(4)](m). These new compounds show very similar thermogravimetric properties, with reduced volatility but increased thermal stability. They all enable TiO2 film growth with negligeable carbon contamination. An efficient combinatorial deposition strategy combined with an in-situ spectral reflectometry set up enables to study rapidly deposition kinetics from all compounds. Equivalent efficiency for film formation is evidenced, but different activation energies are obtained, which makes for instance [Ti(OiPr)(3)(dmamp)](m) (3) particularly adapted to selective deposition through shadow masks.

Automated summary

A series of compounds with the general formula [Ti(OiPr)(3)(L)](m) were synthesized and characterized by NMR. These compounds were tested as precursors for TiO2 thin films and compared to a standard compound [Ti(OiPr)(4)](m). The new compounds showed reduced volatility and increased thermal stability, enabling the growth of TiO2 films with low carbon contamination. A combinatorial deposition strategy combined with in-situ spectral reflectometry allowed for the rapid study of deposition kinetics.