Abstract
New homoleptic aminoalkoxides of gallium(III) and indium(III) of the types M4{(OC2H4)2NMe}6 [M = Ga (1), In (2)] and [Ga{(OC2H4)3N}]n (3), as well as a previously described Ga2(OC2H4NMe2)6 (A) have been prepared by isopropoxo(chloro)-aminoalkoxo exchange reactions and characterised by elemental analyses, FT-IR and 1H NMR spectroscopy. Formation of a star-shaped Ga[Ga{mu-eta3:eta1-(OC2H4)2NMe}2]3 (1.4CHCl3) and a zigzag linear In4{mu-eta3:eta1-(OC2H4)2NMe}6 (2.6CHCl3), as revealed by X-ray single crystal structures, reflects the structural diversity among N-methyldiethanolaminate derivatives. Their hydrolyses in boiling water, either in presence or absence of tetraalkylamonium bromide, have been studied and, for gallium derivatives, compared with similar hydrolytic reactions of Ga(OiPr)3. The hydrolysed products were studied by FT-IR, TG-DTA and XRD techniques. For gallium derivatives, transition from orthorhombic Ga(O)OH phase of as-prepared powder to phase pure rhombohedral- and monoclinic-Ga2O3 occurred at about 500 degrees C and 700 degrees C, respectively, whereas cubic In(OH)3 phase of as-prepared powder of 2 was converted to cubic In2O3 at 250 degrees C. Partial hydrolyses were also performed and evolution of the particle size in solution was recorded by light scattering measurements. Various sol-gel processing parameters such as concentration and hydrolysis ratio (h) were studied in order to stabilise nano-sized colloidal suspensions for access to thin films by spin coating. The N-methyldiethanolamine derivatives 1 and 2 were found to be the most suitable candidates for sol-gel processing. The transparent Ga2O3 and In2O3 films obtained on glass or Si wafers from spin-coating of 1 and 2, respectively, were characterised by SEM, EDX and XRD.