Integrity of functional self-assembled monolayers on hydrogen-terminated silicon-on-insulator wafers

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 257; no. 4; pp. 1314 - 1318
• Main Authors: Tian, Fangyuan, Ni, Chaoying, Teplyakov, Andrew V.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.12.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electron and ion emission by liquids and solids; impact phenomena; Exact sciences and technology; Materials science; Methods of nanofabrication; Photoemission and photoelectron spectra; Physics; Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs); Self-assembly; Silicon-on-insulator (SOI); Surface modification; Transmission electron microscopy (TEM); X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS); Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs); Surface modification; Silicon-on-insulator (SOI); Transmission electron microscopy (TEM); X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS); Inorganic compounds; Hydrogen; Silicon-on-insulator; Surface treatments; Self-assembled layers; Thin films; Thickness; Transmission electron microscopy; Silicon oxides; Density functional method; Modelling; Silicon; X-ray photoelectron spectra
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2010.08.058

Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers are commonly used to design microelectronics, energy conversion, and sensing devices. Thin solid films on the surfaces of SOI wafers have been a subject of numerous studies. However, SOI wafers modified by self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) that can also be used as functional device platforms have been investigated to a much lesser extent. In the present work, tert-butoxycarbonyl ( t-boc, (CH 3) 3–C–O–C( O)–)-protected 1-amino-10-undecene monolayers were covalently attached to a H-terminated SOI (1 0 0) surface. The modified wafers were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to confirm the stability of the SAM/Si interface and the integrity of the secondary amine in the SAM. The transmission electron microscopy investigation suggested that this t-boc-protected 1-amino-10-undecene SAM produces atomically flat interface with the 2 μm single crystalline silicon of the SOI wafer, that the SiO x and both available Si/SiO x interfaces are preserved, and that the organic monolayers are stable, with apparent thickness of 1.7 nm, which is consistent with the result of the density functional theory modeling of the molecular features within a SAM.