Effects of Silica Sources on Nanoporous Organosilicate Films Templated with Tetraalkylammonium Cations

Abstract

Nanoporous organosilicate films have been recently prepared using tetraalkylammonium cations in acid and basic media, outperforming other materials. Resulting films using basic medium were called zeolite-inspired low-k dielectrics. Here we study the dependence of the properties of these films on the used silica sources: methyltrimethoxy silane (MTMS) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). A set of experiments varying the MTMS:TEOS ratio were prepared in acid medium and characterized. A textural, physico-chemical, mechanical, and electrical characterization of this series of experiments is presented.