Physical and electrical properties of low dielectric constant self-assembled mesoporous silica thin films

The physical and electrical properties of self-assembled mesoporous silica thin films with defined 2D hexagonal porous architectures have been evaluated in the following study. Self-assembled mesoporous silica thin (MPS) films have been prepared by evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) methods using the triblock copolymer (C,Hz)r0b(C3H3)70(C,H,)ro6 (Pluronic F127 (R)). The MPS films exhibit remarkably low level leakage currents (1 x 10(-8)-1 x 10(-7) A/cm(2) at 1 MV/cm(1)) and high breakdown voltages (>3 MV/cm(1)). The films have dielectric constants of approximately 2.3, low dielectric loss factors of 0.01-0.03 and exhibit negligible frequency dispersion of dielectric constant between 100 kHz and 1 MHz. The effect of physisorbed water (humidity) upon the electrical properties of the films is also investigated using capacitance-voltage techniques. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.