A phosphine complex of copper (I) bromide as single-source precursor for the aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition of phosphide

A new homobimetallic complex [Cu2(tpp)2(dppm)Br2] (1) of copper(I) bromide with triphenylphosphine (tpp) and bis-diphenylphosphinomethane (dppm) has been synthesized and charaterized by m.p., elemental analysis, FT-IR, 1H NMR, mass spectrometry, thermal studies and single crystal X-ray analysis. The solid-state molecular structure of 1, belonging to the monoclinic crystal system with space group P21/n, describes it as a neutral dinuclear species in which two copper atoms are bridged together through two bromides and a dppm ligand and each copper atom possesses a distorted tetrahedral geometry. Complex 1 was studied as a single-source precursor for the fabrication of phase pure thin films of Cu3P by aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition. The films have been characterized by PXRD, SEM and ED-XRF analyses and found to exhibit the particles size range 200−400 nm with high purity and surface uniformity.