Fabrication of Amorphous Silicon-Carbon Hybrid Films Using Single-Source Precursors

The aim of this study was the preparation of different amorphous silicon-carbon hybrid thin-layer materials according to the liquid phase deposition (LPD) process using single-source precursors. In our study, 2-methyl-2-silyltrisilane (methylisotetrasilane; 2), 1,1,1-trimethyl-2,2-disilyltrisilane (trimethylsilylisotetrasilane; 3), 2-phenyl-2-silyltrisilane (phenylisotetrasilane; 4), and 1,1,2,2,4,4,5,5-octamethyl-3,3,6,6-tetrasilylcyclohexasilane (cyclohexasilane; 5) were utilized as precursor materials and compared with the parent compound 2,2-disilyltrisilane (neopentasilane; 1). Compounds 2-5 were successfully oligomerized at lambda = 365 nm with catalytic amounts of the neopentasilane oligomer (NPO). These oligomeric mixtures (NPO and 6-9) were used for the preparation of thin-layer materials. Optimum solution and spin coating conditions were investigated, and amorphous silicon-carbon films were obtained. All thin-layer materials were characterized via UV/vis spectroscopy, light microscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, XPS, SEM, and SEM/EDX. Our results show that the carbon content and especially the bandgap can be easily tuned using these single-source precursors via LPD.

Automated summary

The aim of this study was to prepare amorphous silicon-carbon hybrid thin-layer materials using liquid phase deposition (LPD) process and single-source precursors. Different precursor materials were used, and the carbon content and bandgap of the thin films were successfully controlled. The results show the potential of LPD for tuning the properties of silicon-carbon materials.