Laser and Thermal Vapor Deposition of Metal Sulfide (NiS, PdS) Films and in Situ Gas-Phase Luminescence of Photofragments from M(S₂COCHMe₂)₂

NiS and PdS thin films are prepared at 10 - 2 Torr from the single-source precursors M(S 2 COCHMe 2 ) 2, M = Ni and Pd. Two different vapor deposition processes, photochemical and thermal, are employed. Gas-phase emission spectroscopy is used during the photochemical deposition to identify the two elemental components of the final materials, the metal atom and sulfur, in the gas phase. NiS and PdS thin films are grown by the thermal process at 300 and 350 °C, respectively, on Si and quartz substrates. The NiS films are highly oriented rhombohedral (γ) phase, and the PdS films are tetragonal-phase polycrystalline. The metal sulfide films are grown photolytically by 308 nm laser irradiation of the gas-phase precursors at lower temperatures (near the sublimation temperature). The NiS films show no X-ray diffraction patterns, but the PdS films are polycrystalline tetragonal phase. The films are analyzed by various surface analytical tools including scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron, and Rutherford backscattering techniques.