CVD of MgO from a Mg(β-ketoiminate)2: Preparation, Characterization, and Utilization of an Intramolecularly Stabilized, Highly Volatile, Thermally Robust Precursor

Dibutylmagnesium reacts with 2 equivalents of 5-N-(N,N-dimethylaminopropyl)-2,2,7-trimethyl-3-octanone in THF to afford the homoleptic bis(β-ketoiminate) compound 2. Its molecular structure, determined by the single-crystal X-ray diffraction technique, exhibits a six-coordinate magnesium atom surrounded by four nitrogen and two oxygen atoms in an octahedral environment. Compound 2 crystallizes in the triclinic space group P1¯, a = 9.3288(5) Å, b = 9.8151(5) Å, c = 10.4592(6) Å, α = 65.2870(10)°, β = 85.524(2)°, γ = 83.568(2)°, V = 863.97(8) Å3, Z = 1, Dc = 1.075 g cm–3. Refinement of 2436 independent reflections converged to residual values of R1 = 3.16 % and Rw = 8.05 %. Employment of 2 in CVD experiments carried out on a silicon substrate at a temperature of 450 °C under an inert atmosphere of argon resulted in the deposition of magnesium oxide, as determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The films were granular in nature, as indicated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).