The white solid gallium acetylacetonate Ga(acac)3, which is mainly used as a raw material in research into gallium-containing materials, is now also available worldwide from the Indium Corporation.
The structure of the very stable organometallic complex has gallium in the center, which is surrounded by three acetylacetonate ligands. By heating and subsequent decomposition, the supplier's Ga(acac)3 can be used to produce a highly pure and uniform thin-film version of gallium oxide (Ga2O3). Due to its extremely large band gap (approx. 4.8 eV), this version is particularly suitable as a semiconductor in power electronics. Gallium sulphide (Ga2S3) quantum dots with a bandgap of approx. 3.3 eV can be generated by combining it with sulphur. Typical areas of application here are photonics and optoelectronics.
Ga(acac)3 also serves as a thermally stable substitute for trimethylgallium (TMG) in high-temperature deposition processes. It decomposes at higher temperatures and, unlike TMG, is not pyrophoric and therefore safer to handle.
