Deposition of carbon-free silicon dioxide from pure hexamethyldisiloxane using an atmospheric microplasma jet

Carbon-free silicon dioxide has been deposited at room temperature by injection of pure hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) into an atmospheric pressure microplasma jet from argon. At low HMDSO flow rates [< 0.1 SCCM (SCCM denotes cubic centimeter per minute at STP)], the SiO(x)H(z) films contain no carbon and exhibit an oxygen to silicon ratio close to 2 according to x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. At high HMDSO flow rates (>0.1 SCCM), SiO(x)C(y)H(z) films with a carbon content of up to 21% are obtained. The transition between organic to inorganic film is confirmed by Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. The deposition of inorganic films without oxygen admixture is explained by an ion-induced polymerization scheme of HMDSO. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.