Atmospheric pressure deposition of fluorine‐doped SnO2 thin films from organotin fluorocarboxylate precursors

Nine organotin fluorocarboxylates R_nSnO₂CR_f (n = 3, R = Bu, R_f = CF₃, C₂F₅, C₃F₇, C₇F₁₅; R = Et, R_f = CF₃, C₂F₅; R = Me, R_f = C₂F₅; n = 2, R = Me, R_f = CF₃) have been synthesized; key examples have been used to deposit fluorine‐doped SnO₂ thin films by atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition. Et₃SnO₂CC₂F₅, in particular, gives high‐quality films with fast deposition rates despite adopting a polymeric, carboxylate‐bridged structure in the solid state, as determined by X‐ray crystallography. Gas‐phase electron diffraction on the model compound Me₃SnO₂CC₂F₅ shows that accessible conformations do not allow contact between tin and fluorine, and that direct transfer is therefore unlikely to be part of the mechanism for fluorine incorporation in SnO₂ films. The structure of Me₂Sn(O₂CCF₃)₂(H₂O) has also been determined and adopts a trans‐Me₂SnO₃ coordination sphere about tin in which each carboxylate group is monodentate. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.