Bis(trimethylsilyl)ethylamine: synthesis, properties and its use as CVD precursor

Bis(trimethylsilyl)ethylamine (BTMSEA) was synthesized and characterized as CVD precursor for silicon carbonitride SiCxNy films synthesis (vapor pressure, thermodynamic modeling). SiC(x)Ny films were deposited by PECVD from BTMSEA in the temperature range of 100-700 degrees C using two additional gases (He or NH3). FT-IR, Raman spectroscopy, ellipsometry, EDX, SEM, UV-Visible spectroscopy and nanoindentation tests were used for film characterization. FT-IR analysis showed that temperature increase lead to the transition from a low-temperature polymeric-like films to the high-temperature inorganic material. It was also shown that the high-temperature films content predominantly Si-C bonds independently on the additional gas type. As it was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy, high-temperature SiCxNy films content carbon phase. Ammonia addition into the reaction mixture resulted in the shift of the temperature boundary of carbon phase-free region. The transmittance of SiCxNy films obtained using BTMSEA + He mixture in the deposition temperature range of 100-500 degrees C was 85-95 % and decreased significantly in the case of carbon phase formation at T-dep more than 500 degrees C. Optical band gap estimated from UV-Vis spectra varied in the range of 1.9-4.4 eV depending on the deposition temperature. NH3 addition to initial mixture led to the film transmittance decrease to 80-90 %, the optical band gap changed in the range of 2.0-5.1 eV. Nanoindentation tests showed that hardness of the films synthesized at high temperature was 18.5-21.5 GPa. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.