Platinum and palladium dithio/diselenoimidodiphosphinato complexes have been synthesized and used as single source precursors for the deposition of platinum and palladium chalcogenide thin films by the Low Pressure Chemical Vapour Deposition technique. Pure PtSe(2) thin films were deposited at varying temperatures from the [Pt{N(SeP(i)Pr(2))(2)}(2)] complex. However, only Pt films were obtained from the sulfur analogue. The palladium diselenoimidodiphosphinato complex gave palladium selenide films with different stochiometries depending on the growth temperature. The corresponding sulfur complex gave PdS(2) films with a regular platelet-like morphology. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.