Silicon dioxide (SiO₂) is one of the most abundant and well-studied materials in the world with diverse applications including microelectronics, optics, and catalysis owing to its unique combination of high dielectric strength, moisture resistance, and chemical stability. With the continuous downscaling of semiconductor device dimensions, conventional methods for patterning SiO₂ such as optical lithography and electron beam lithography are becoming increasingly challenged, especially at the sub-20 nm level. Consequently, there is a growing need for novel methods to create high resolution SiO₂ nanopatterns at low cost. In this work, we are presenting SiO₂ material deposition using sequential infiltration method (SIS), a process that has been demonstrated to make inorganic nanopatterns using a polymer as a template. Sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS) is a two-step gas-phase molecular assembly reaction involving the desired inorganic material precursors inside an Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) chamber. SIS enables localized inorganic material growth in the targeted domains of polymers with interactive functional groups. We have used polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) polymer film for our study. We have performed in-situ Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) study during the half and full cycles of the SIS process inside PMMA to understand the reaction mechanism of the precursor and polymer. The selective infiltration is advantageous for assuring large-scale uniformity in the mass production of organized nanoscale materials with controlled material properties. A better understanding of the SiO₂ growth mechanism and interaction of SiO₂ precursors with different polymers using in-situ FTIR will open up new avenues for nanopatterning this material for many low-dimensional dielectric-based and high temperature-based applications.

Amelia Korveziroska

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