Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
The surface chemistry of dimethylaluminum hydride (DMAH) and trimethylaluminum (TMA) on aluminum has been investigated with temperature programmed desorption (TPD), and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The TPD spectra of TMA shows a single desorption peak with a peak maximum which shifts from 190 to 200 K for surface coverages of 0.5 and 2.0 monolayers (ML) respectively. DMAH desorbs from an aluminum surface between 198 and 236 K at surface coverages ranging from 0.1 to 4.0 ML. A second DMAH desorption peak is observed at about 200 K (2.0 ML) when the aluminum surface is contaminated with carbonaceous species, resulting from the decomposition of DMAH. Both DMAH and TMA yield methane as a reaction product on the aluminum surface. The surface reactions of DMAH on aluminum also yield TMA as a reaction product.