ChemInform Abstract: Laser Photochemistry of Organometallic Compounds Related to Applications in Microelectronics

Abstract

Photochemistry of organometallic compounds achieves a marriage of a rich variety of organometallic chemistry and the full potential of electronically excited states of molecules. The application of lasers as light sources adds a great many new features to these studies, which cannot be attained by other means, because lasers provide light of such a high quality, e.g. a high-intensity, energetic (i.e. wavelength) purity, a high degree of coherence, and a high spatial and temporal resolution. Laser photochemistry of organometallic compounds, such as laser photochemical vapor deposition (LPCVD), laser ablation, and photochemical dry etching, forms the basis of many important industrial processes which sustain the present-day microelectronics industries. Lasers are used not only to photodissociate organometallic molecules, but to monitor the reaction steps by probing the starting material, chemical intermediate, or final product by many laser-based spectroscopic methods. Although it is a very young area of science (the first laser was operated in 1960), this research area is now really ebullient, as a result of strong interest from both the fundamental and the practical sides. Laser photochemistry of organometallic compounds extends a wide and fertile research frontier, full of challenge and novel possibilities. In the present review, the present status of laser (ultraviolet and visible) photochemistry of organometallic compounds related to these industrial applications is briefly reviewed, with special emphasis on the basic studies of the relevant photochemistry and their relationship to photochemical processes on solid surfaces.