Molybdenum‐carbothioamide complexes as potential single‐source precursors for MoS 2 thin film

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) thin films are widely used in batteries, transistors, supercapacitors, and 2D materials owing to their tunable bandgaps and flexible structural characteristics. To deposit pure MoS 2 thin film, molybdenum precursors have been developed using various organic ligands. In this study, we designed and synthesized novel molybdenum(VI) complexes that can be used as volatile precursors for MoS 2 thin films. N ‐alkoxy carbothioamide ligands were introduced into Mo(N t Bu) 2 Cl 2 (DME) to dissociate the chloride and DME ligands, and two novel Mo complexes, Mo(N t Bu) 2 (mdpaS) 2 ( 1 ) and Mo(N t Bu) 2 (edpaS) 2 ( 2 ), were successfully synthesized in hexane. All the synthesized complexes were analyzed by 1 H and 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction to determine their structures. The crystal structures showed that all the complexes had a distorted octahedral structure with hexacoordination. Thermogravimetric analysis was performed to investigate the thermal characteristics of the synthesized complexes. After thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), the residues were analyzed by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to evaluate the formation of MoS 2 at high temperatures without an external sulfur source. The TGA and XPS results indicated that all complexes formed MoS 2 upon thermolysis at high temperatures. The synthesized complexes have volatility and metal‐sulfide covalent bonds; therefore, we expect that they could be used as single‐source precursors for depositing MoS 2 thin films.