Development and vapour pressure of metallo-organic precursors of copper for the deposition of copper thin films by a plasma-assisted MOCVD

Abstract

ABSTRACT A group of metallo-organic complexes of copper, namely bis(N-R-salicylaldiminato)Cu(II) (R: methyl to n-pentyl, hereafter referred to as 1–5) were prepared and their volatile nature was confirmed by TG/DTA. The molecular masses (M) of 1–5 were confirmed by mass spectrometry. The vapour pressure (pe ) for precursors 1–5 determined by a transpiration technique using the Clausius–Clapeyron relation yielded the values of 91 ± 2, 84 ± 4, 100 ± 2, 92 ± 2, and 72 ± 2 kJ mol−1 for ΔHo vap, respectively, for 1–5. The thin films deposited by plasma-assisted MOCVD technique contain predominantly metallic copper in <111> orientation. The SEM images of the thin films exhibit continuous nanoball-like structure.