Transition metal pyrazolato complexes

Current demands within the microelectronics industry call for new complexes to be used as Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) precursors for thin films. Previous workers have shown that erbium pyrazolato ligand complexes were attractive as CVD precursors in erbium-doped semiconductors. The goal of this thesis is to outline the synthesis and characterization of a new series of transition metal pyrazolato complexes that could act as CVD precursors to afford thin films attractive to the microelectronics industry. This thesis also studies concomitantly the effects that partially filled d-orbitals have on pyrazolato ligand coordination to transition metals. The results herein contradict previous theories regarding pyrazolato ligand coordination to metals containing partially filled d electron shells.