Studies of dodecaphenyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane thin films on Si(1 0 0) wafers

•Dodecaphenyl silsesquioxane (T12Ph) thin films deposition by molecular beam technique at UHV condition.•FTIR measurements on thermal stability of the molecule during the thin film growth as well as after annealing up to 200 °C.•Ellipsometry measurements for thin film thickness estimation and for optical properties evaluation.•X-ray Diffraction measurements show two-step ordering process in thin films after several steps of annealing.•AFM microscopy confirms conducted measurements, demonstrating process of thin film ordering during the annealing.

In this work the spectroscopic and microscopic studies of dodecaphenyl POSS thin films are presented. Thin films have been deposited using molecular beam technique. Due to thermal properties – relatively low sublimation temperature and preservation of molecular structure – cage type silsesquioxanes are perfect to fabricate a thin film by means of physical vapor deposition.PhT12 thin films with thickness varying from 40 nm up to 100 nm, deposited on a Si(1 0 0) surface, were studied under high vacuum conditions. The research was focused on the influence of post deposition annealing (from 100 °C up to 200 °C) on molecular structure as well as thin film roughness and optical properties.A wide range of measuring methods were applied for thin film studies. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was used in order to learn molecular structure and stability, Ellipsometry for thin film thickness and uniformity, Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXD) for thin film long range order investigation and finally Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) for visual confirmation of drawn conclusions.