Physical and electrical properties of low dielectric constant self-assembled mesoporous silica thin films

Abstract

The physical and electrical properties of self-assembled mesoporous silica thin films with defined 2D hexagonal porous architectures have been evaluated in the following study. Self-assembled mesoporous silica thin (MPS) films have been prepared by evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) methods using the triblock copolymer (C 2H 2) 106(C 3H 3) 70(C 2H 2) 106 (Pluronic F127 ®). The MPS films exhibit remarkably low level leakage currents (1 × 10 −8–1 × 10 −7 A/cm 2 at 1 MV/cm 1) and high breakdown voltages (>3 MV/cm 1). The films have dielectric constants of approximately 2.3, low dielectric loss factors of 0.01–0.03 and exhibit negligible frequency dispersion of dielectric constant between 100 kHz and 1 MHz. The effect of physisorbed water (humidity) upon the electrical properties of the films is also investigated using capacitance–voltage techniques.