DESIGN AND SYNTHESIS OF PRECURSORS FOR PHOTOASSISTED CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION

Christopher R. Brewer¹, Kelsea R. Johnson¹, Olivia M. Hawkins¹, Bryan Salazar², Paul Arevalo Rodriguez², Amy V. Walker² and Lisa McElwee-White¹

1Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7200, USA
2Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75080, USA

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a potentially attractive technique for the metallization of organic thin films. However, thermal CVD processes often require high temperatures which are incompatible with organic substrates. Photochemistry provides an alternative means of initiating precursor decomposition without heating the substrate.  Readily available Ru precursors including (η³-allyl)Ru(CO)₃X and CpRu(CO)₂X (X = Br, I) have been used to deposit Ru on functionalized self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) by means of photochemical CVD as a model system for deposition of metal on a thermally sensitive substrate. Carboxylic acid-, hydroxyl- and methyl-terminated SAMs were used to explore the effects of surface functionality on deposition.