Improvement of microstructure property of low dielectric constant nanoporous SiOF thin films prepared by sol–gel method

• Published in: Microporous and mesoporous materials Vol. 111; no. 1; pp. 206 - 210
• Main Authors: He, Z.W., Xu, D.Y., Jiang, X.H., Wang, Y.Y.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 15-04-2008; Elsevier
• Subjects: Catalysis; Chemistry; Colloidal gels. Colloidal sols; Colloidal state and disperse state; Dielectrics; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Microstructure; Porous materials; Sol–gel preparation; Surface physical chemistry; Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry; Microstructure; Sol–gel preparation; Dielectrics; Ternary compound; Sol-gel preparation; Binary compound; High resolution; Incorporation; Film; Porous material; Silica; Thin film; Hydrochloric acid; Pore size; Hydrofluoric acid; Nanoporosity; Scanning electron microscopy; Catalytic reaction; Chemical bond; Dielectric properties; Fluorine compound; Desorption; Infrared spectrometry; Adsorption; Sol gel process; Morphology; Preparation; Distribution; Capacitance; Porosity; Catalyst
• ISSN: 1387-1811; 1873-3093
• DOI: 10.1016/j.micromeso.2007.07.031

Using hydrofluoric acid (HF) as acid catalyst, F doped nanoporous low-
k SiO
2 thin films were prepared through sol–gel method. Compared with the hydrochloric acid (HCl) catalyzed film, the films showed better micro-structural and dielectric properties. The improvements were investigated by high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and capacitance–voltage (
C–
V) and current–voltage (
I–
V) techniques. The results of N
2 adsorption/desorption further confirmed the HR-SEM morphologies and indicated that the suited introduction of HF increased the porosity and decreased the pore size distribution (about 10
nm). The incorporation of HF effectively adjusts the microstructures and the chemical bonds, and thus significantly improves the dielectric properties of the films; the dielectric constant was reduced to 1.5.