Metal substitution could improve thin films

The advance, described in a paper published in Inorganic Chemistry, is said to represent a new approach to transmetalation, a process in which individual atoms of one metal complex - a cluster in this case - are individually substituted in water.

For this study, Maisha K. Kamunde-Devonish and Milton N. Jackson Jr., doctoral students in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, replaced aluminium atoms with indium atoms.

The goal is to develop inorganic clusters as precursors that result in dense thin films with negligible defects, resulting in new functional materials and thin-film metal oxides. The latter would have wide application in a variety of electronic devices.

‘Since the numbers of compounds that fit this bill is small, we are looking at transmetelation as a method for creating new precursors with new combinations of metals that would circumvent barriers to performance,’ Kamunde-Devonish said in a statement.

Components in these devices now use deposition techniques that require a lot of energy in the form of pressure or temperature. Doing so in a more environmentally way - reducing chemical waste during preparation - could reduce manufacturing costs and allow for larger-scale materials, she said.