Illuminating Silicon Surface Hydrosilylation: An Unexpected Plurality of Mechanisms

Abstract

Silicon is the cornerstone material of the semiconductor industry. As feature sizes on chips continue to decrease in size, the ratio of surface to bulk increases, and as a result, the role of surface defects, surface states and other subtle features play larger roles in the functioning of the device. Although silicon oxides have served the industry well as the passivation chemistry of choice, there is interest in expanding the repertoire of accessible and efficient chemical functional strategies available for use, and to fully understand the nature of these interfaces. For new applications such as molecular electronics on silicon and biochips, for example, there is a need to avoid the layer of intervening insulating oxide: A well-defined linkage of organic molecules through a silicon–carbon bond has great promise and appeal. Hydrosilylation, the insertion of an alkene or alkyne into a surface Si–H bond, is an ideal approach to producing these covalent Si–C bonds, and can be carried out in a number of ways...