Morphology enhancement of SiO2 aerogel films grown on Si substrate using dense SiO2 buffer layer

• Published in: Rare metals Vol. 42; no. 7; pp. 2457 - 2461
• Main Authors: Sun, Xiang-Yu, Wu, Chuan-Gui, Luo, Wen-Bo, Shuai, Yao, Zhang, Wang-Li
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Nonferrous Metals Society of China 01.07.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aerogels; Biomaterials; Buffer layers; Chemistry and Materials Science; Energy; Materials Engineering; Materials Science; Metallic Materials; Morphology; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Optical microscopes; Physical Chemistry; Silicon dioxide; Silicon substrates; Sol-gel processes; Spin coating; Temperature; aerogel film; SiO; Si substrate; Surface morphology; buffer layer
• ISSN: 1001-0521; 1867-7185
• DOI: 10.1007/s12598-018-1185-9

Porous SiO 2 film has been widely studied due to its extensive applications in many fields. This paper presents a newly produced porous SiO 2 film made by traditional sol–gel method. Bare Si and Si with SiO 2 buffer layer were used as substrate. The SiO 2 buffer layer was 500 nm in thickness and was grown by thermal oxidization. The structural properties of SiO 2 aerogel films spin-coated on both materials were observed by optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). Results reveal that the surface of SiO 2 aerogel films on bare Si is rough and discontinuous. While flat and smooth surface is observed on sample with SiO 2 buffer layer. This indicates that by inserting SiO 2 buffer layer, the structural property of SiO 2 aerogel film deposited on Si is improved.