Deposition and characterization of ZnO thin films from a novel hexanuclear zinc precursor

The high nuclearity zinc complex, Zn6(OAc)8(μ-OH)2(dmae)2(dmaeH)2 (1) (OAc = acetate and dmaeH = N,N′-dimethylaminoethanol), having a low decomposition temperature and sufficiently high solubility in non-polar solvents, was synthesized by a simple chemical technique in high yield and analyzed by melting point, elemental analysis, FTIR, NMR, single crystal X-ray crystallography and thermal analysis. Aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition technique was used to deposit a high-quality thin film with good adhesion to the glass substrate at relatively low temperature (320 °C). Scanning electron microscopy of the film shows clearly distinct crystallites of uniform shape with 2.4–2.9 μm size. Powder X-ray diffraction measurements have indicated the deposition of a crystalline phase of hexagonal ZnO with space group P63mc.