Stable silver precursor for the aerosol-assisted growth of silver metal thin films

Of interest to the aircraft gas turbine industry is the ability to vapor-phase deliver lubricants as an anti-seizure system. Most currently viable lubricants fail at temperatures above 500 degrees Celsius. At high temperatures, silver metal becomes a liquid, and its impressive inertness toward oxygen and lack of solubility in iron makes it a unique lubricant. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) can be used, a process which would utilize silver precursors, either volatile or dissolved in hydrocarbons, that would decompose cleanly, resulting in the deposition of silver atoms. A novel, non-fluorinated, Ag(I) precursor (1) has been synthesized and characterized. Its single crystal structure shows it to be monomeric and pseudo-tetragonal in coordination. Thermogravimetric analysis shows a swift, two-step decomposition to silver metal. This complex is unique in that it is light- and air-stable and results show it capable of depositing silver metal via aerosol-assisted CVD.