Lanthanide N, N-dimethylaminodiboranates as a new class of highly volatile chemical vapor deposition precursors

Scott R. Daly, Do Young Kim, Gregory S. Girolami

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

New lanthanide N,N-dimethylaminodiboranate (DMADB) complexes of stoichiometry Ln(H 3BNMe 2BH 3) 3 and Ln(H 3BNMe 2BH 3) 3(thf) have been prepared, where Ln = yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, and lutetium, except that isolation of the desolvated complexes proved difficult for Eu and Yb. The tetrahydrofuran (thf) complexes are all monomeric, and most of them adopt 13-coordinate structures in which each DMADB group chelates to the metal center by means of four B-H•••Ln bridges (each BH 3 group is k 2H; i.e., forms two B-H•••Ln interactions). For the smallest three lanthanides, Tm, Yb, and Lu, the metal center is 12 coordinate because one of the DMADB groups chelates to the metal center by means of only three B-H•••Ln bridges. The structures of the base-free Ln(H 3BNMe 2BH 3) 3 complexes are highly dependent on the size of the lanthanide ions: as the ionic radius decreases, the coordination number decreases from 14 (Pr) to 13 (Sm) to 12 (Dy, Y, Er). The 14-coordinate complexes are polymeric: each metal center is bound to two chelating DMADB ligands and to two end of two ligands that bridge in a Ln(k 3H-H 3BNMe 2BH 3-k 3H)Ln fashion. In the 13-coordinate complexes, all three DMADB ligands are chelating, but the metal atom is also coordinated to one hydrogen atom from an adjacent molecule. The 12-coordinate complexes adopt a dinuclear structure in which each metal center is bound to two chelating DMADB ligands and to two ends of two ligands that bridge in a Ln(k 2H-H 3BNMe 2BH 3-k 2H)Ln fashion. The complexes react with water, and the partial hydrolysis product [La(H 3BNMe 2BH 3) 2(OH)] 4 adopts a structure in which the lanthanum and oxygen atoms form a distorted cube; each lanthanum atom is connected to three bridging hydroxyl groups and to two chelating DMADB ligands. One B-H bond of each chelating DMADB ligand forms a bridge to an adjacent metal center. Field ionization MS data, melting and decomposition points, thermogravimetric data, and NMR data, including an analysis of the paramagnetic lanthanide induced shifts (LIS), are reported for all of the complexes. The Ln(H 3BNMe 2BH 3) 3 compounds, which are highly volatile and sublime at temperatures as low as 65 °C in vacuum, are suitable for use as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) precursors to thin films.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)7050-7065
Number of pages16
JournalInorganic Chemistry
Volume51
Issue number13
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2 2012

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Inorganic Chemistry

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Lanthanide N, N-dimethylaminodiboranates as a new class of highly volatile chemical vapor deposition precursors'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this