Effects of ion irradiation on the structural transformation of sol-gel derived TEOS/MTES thin films

摘要

Ion beam processing of organic/inorganic thin films has been shown to be an effective means in converting polymeric films into their final ceramic-like state. In this study, hybrid sol-gel derived thin films based on TEOS (tetraethylorthosilicate) Si(OC_2H_5)_4 and MTES (methyltriethoxysilane) CH_3Si(OC_2H_5)_3 were prepared and deposited on Si substrates by spin coating. After the films were allowed to air dry, they were heat treated at 300 ℃ for 10 min. Ion irradiation was performed at room temperature using 125 keV H~+ and 250 keV N~(2+) ions with fluences ranging from 1 x 1014 to 5 x 1016 ions/cm2. FT-IR and Raman spectroscopies were used to quantify the chemical structural transformations which occurred including the evolution of the organic components, the cross-linking of silica clusters, and the clustering of carbon.