Effects of heat treatment and ion irradiation on hybrid organic/inorganic sol-gel derived thin films

Hybrid organic/inorganic modified silicate thin films were synthesized by sol-gel processing from tetracthoxysilane (TEOS) and methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) precursors and spin-coated onto (100) Si substrates. A comparison was made of films which were heat treated at temperatures ranging from 300 degrees C to 800 degrees C and a film which was first heat treated at 300 degrees C and subsequently irradiated using 2 MeV He+ ions with a fluence of 3 x 10(15) ions/cm(2). Nanoindentation was used to measure the hardness and reduced elastic modulus, both of which exhibited an order of magnitude increase after irradiation. The increase in hardness and reduced elastic modulus of the irradiated film was accompanied by a 50% reduction in H concentration. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was also employed to examine the changes in C, O and Si composition resulting from heat treatment and ion irradiation. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.