A series of new Ag precursors containing beta-diketonate and neutral phosphite ligands were synthesized and characterized by various spectroscopic methods. These volatile precursors in liquid phase were thermally stable and quite useful in the preparation of silver thin films through bubbler-type chemical vapor deposition (CVD). In a typical case of silver (1) 1,1,1-trifluoro-2,4-pentanedionate triethyl phosphite adduct ((tfac)AgP(OEt)(3)) precursor, very pure silver thin films were obtained under relatively mild conditions without any appreciable amount of F, O, and P impurities. These thin films were easily converted to beta-orthorhombic silver selenide by simple selenium vapor deposition method. In scanning electron microscopic analyses, the average particle size of the latter was found to increase to about 1.26 mu m after gas-phase selenization reaction. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.