Improvement of electrical properties of surfactant-templated mesoporous silica thin films by plasma treatment

Surfactant-templated mesoporous silica film draws a great attention due to its superior properties as low-k dielectrics. In this study, electrical properties of the film using Brij-76 surfactant were evaluated after plasma treatment. The selected gases were H2, O2, and Ar. X-ray diffraction pattern revealed that mesoporous silica film was highly textured but pore ordering was destroyed when applied rf power and atomic mass of gas increased. Strained Si–O bond near gel pore was reduced and incompletely oxidized Si bond could be controlled after plasma treatment. Optimizing treatment condition can control the structural defects in the wall and as a result, electrical property of the film could be improved. Mesoporous film after H2 plasma treatment at rf power of 25 W and 100 mTorr showed current density of 3.6 × 10− 6 A/cm2 at 1.6 MV/cm. As a conclusion, electrical properties of mesoporous silica film can be improved by plasma treatment through controlling reactivity of gas and ion bombardment effect with low power.