Chemical vapor deposition of zinc gallate using a novel single precursor

A novel single precursor, bis(dimethylgallium-di-mu-isopropoxo)zinc which c ontains zinc, gallium, and oxygen in the 1 : 2 : 4 ratio, has been develope d for the chemical vapor deposition of zinc gallate, ZnGa2O4, a prospective low voltage phosphor material for field emission display (FED). The precur sor is a solid at room temperature and has a low melting point and a reason ably high vapor pressure when heated at about 50 degrees C. It was characte rized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in its frozen state and by X-ray crystallography. In the low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD ) reaction, the precursor is thought to undergo P-hydrogen elimination and partial dissociation producing a film that is a mixture of zinc gallate, ga llium oxide, and zinc oxide. In the film, zinc gallate is the dominant phas e and the amount of zinc oxide is minimal. The films deposited were charact erized by XPS, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (S EM). Possible mechanisms of the CVD reaction have been discussed to explain the peculiarities of the film composition.