Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.49, No.14, 6279-6286, 2010
Addition of Surfactant Tween 80 in Coating Solutions for Making Mesoporous Pure Silica Zeolite MFI Low-k Films
A mesoporous pure-silica-zeolite (PSZ) MFI low dielectric (k) film with smooth surface morphology was successfully synthesized using a centrifuged coating solution composed of a solution with PSZ MFI nanoparticles and surfactant Tween 80. The zeolite nanoparticles were prepared using TEOS as the silica source through a two-stage hydrothermal process. Both the k value and the mechanical strength of the film were strongly affected by the weight ratio of Tween 80 to TEOS and by the hydrothermal period of the second stage. When a higher weight ratio of Tween 80 to TEOS was employed, a lower k value and mechanical strength were obtained. A film coated from a solution prepared under optimal experimental conditions possessed an ultra low k value of 1.83, a hardness of 1.39 GPa, an elastic module of 12.3 GPa, and a leakage current of 1.35 x 10(-7) A/cm(2), all of which met the needs of the integrated circuits (IC) industry. Moreover, the occurrence of electrical degradation of electronic devices could be minimized because only few pores in the film exceeded 5 um.