2008 International Conference on Condition Monitoring and Diagnosis, Beijing, China, April 21-24, 2008
Study on the Interfacial Properties at the OTS
Treated SiO2 Film
Teresa Oh1* and Jong Wook Kim2
1,2
Cheongju University
*E-mail : teresa@cju.ac.kr

Abstract--n-octadecyltrichlorosilane treated the SiO2 film was
prepared by the mixed solution of chloroform and hexane. The
leakage current decreased by the treatment of organic diluted
solutions, but the leakage current of samples with various ratios
was in proportion to increase the content of n-
octadecyltrichlorosilane. The FTIR spectra of SiO2 film showed
the various wave forms below 800 cm-1, and the FTIR spectra of
720 and 745 cm-1 did not disappear after organic treatment. The
FTIR spectra below 800 cm-1 became weak according to the
increase of the content of of n-octadecyltrichlorosilane. The FTIR
spectra below 800 cm-1 between samples 6 and 7 varied abruptly
and the sample 6 showed the lowest leakage current.
Key words--Thermal Failure, Transformer,
starvation
I. INTRODUCTION
S urface modification and functionalization are essential for
many applications, organic semiconductors and nanoparticle
synthesis. Among the various surface modification techniques,
self-assembled monolayers have demonstrated their superiority
over others [1-4]. Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of
organic functional group are used to modify the surfaces of
silicon-based devices and organic thin film transistor, because
organosilane SAMs have its fast preparation, stability, and
applicability to a wide range of substrates. n-
octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) was widely used to improve
the electrical properties of gate insulator for pentacene-
channel organic thin film transistor (OTFTs) [5-7]. n-
octadecyltrichlorosilane SAMs are arranged by the chemical
reaction of surfactant-like molecules on substrates. It was
reported that the molecule of pentacene grows perpendicularly
on OTS treated gate insulator and finally, increases the mobility
of TFT device [8-10]. In this study, to research the effect of n-
octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) as SAMs on silicon based SiO2
substrates, we prepared the OTS diluted solution with
chloroform and hexane. The samples are analyzed by Fourier
Transform Infrared spectrometer the I-V measurement system.
This research was financially supported by the Ministry of Commerce,
Industry and Energy (MOCIE) and Korea Industrial Technology Foundation
(KOTEF) through the Human Resource Training Project for Regional
Innovation
978-1-4244-1622-6/08/$25.00 ©2007 IEEE
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II. EXPERIMENT
n-octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) was purchased from
Aldrich, and chloroform and hexane were obtained from
Fluka. The SiO2 film on p-type Si wafer was grown to the
thickness of 100 nm, and these wafers were soaked in OTS
dilute solution to treat the surface. The rate of the mixed
solution of chloroform (CHCl3) and hexane was 200:800, and
OTS was injected using the micro-pipet. The OTS solution
was made from the mixing using OTS, chloroform and hexane,
and then we prepared the OTS dilute solution of 1% ~10% as
Oil shown in the table 1. OTS (CH3(Cl2)17SiCl3) is the organic
composition with many alkyl group. The SiO2/Si prepared
wafers were soaked in the prepared solution for 30 minutes,
and annealed in a vacuum chamber at 150 oC for 1 hour. The
aluminum layer on surfaces with OTS treated SiO2 was
deposited through a shadow mask using thermal evaporation,
where the sputter-deposited aluminum with an area of
2
(0.1 / 2) 2 u S cm was used on the top electrode. The chemical
shift’s SiOC film was researched by Fourier Transform
Infrared spectrometer (FTIR, Galaxy 7020A). The I-V
characteristics were measured by HP 4155A semiconductor
parameter analyzer at 1Mhz using the MIS (Al/ OTS treated
SiO2 /Si) structure.
Table 1. Treated ratio of organic diluted solution.
sample Ratio of Solution
1 CHCl3:Hexan:OTS=200:800:1
2 CHCl3:Hexan:OTS=200:800:2
3 CHCl3:Hexan:OTS=200:800:3
4 CHCl3:Hexan:OTS=200:800:4
5 CHCl3:Hexan:OTS=200:800:5
6 CHCl3:Hexan:OTS=200:800:6
7 CHCl3:Hexan:OTS=200:800:7
8 CHCl3:Hexan:OTS=200:800:8
9 CHCl3:Hexan:OTS=200:800:9
10 CHCl3:Hexan:OTS=200:800:10
G͑
 III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Figure 1 shows the FTIR spectra of the SiO2 film and the (b)
OTS treated SiO2 films with various OTS diluted contents. SiO2
There are variations in FTIR spectra under 800 cm-1 and

Absorbance (arb.units)
1050~1220 cm-1, but there is not the OH bond near 3500 cm-1
ots5
which is some problems to use for semiconductor devices.
The FTIR spectra of the SiO2 film and the OTS treated SiO2 ots6
films are similar to each other. ots7

ots8

ots9
Absorbance (arb.units)

800 840 880 920 960 1000 1040

-1
Wave number (cm )

SiO2

ots5 (c)
ots6 1175 SiO2

Absorbance (arb.units)
ots7
ots8
ots5
ots9
1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 ots6
-1
Wave number (cm ) ots7

Fig. 1. FTIR spectra of the SiO2 film and the OTS treated SiO2 ots8
films with various OTS diluted contents.
ots9
Figure 2(a) shows the narrow band FTIR spectra of 650~800
cm-1. The SiO2 film and the sample of ots 5 have the CH 1050 1100 1150 1200 1250 1300 1350
-1
1400 1450 1500
Wave number (cm )
related bonds with various peaks of 680 cm-1, 720 cm-1 and
745 cm-1. The bond of 650~750 cm-1 decrease according to the Fig. 2. Narrow band FTIR spectra, (a) range of 650~800 cm-1,
increasing concentration of the OTS treated solution. The (b) range of 800~1040 cm-1, (c) range of 1040~1500 cm-1.
bond of 680 cm-1 is also disappeared with increasing the OTS
concentration, but the bond near 720 cm-1 exists in the all Moreover, the bond of 745 cm-1 in OTS treated SiO2 films is
samples. The peaks of 718 cm-1 and 745 cm-1 in SiO2 film was attracted to the neighboring bond of 720 cm-1 and finally,
shifted with the increasing of the OTS treatment. The peaks of formed the broad band of 700~800 cm-1. The broad band
718 cm-1 changed to higher frequency of 720 cm-1, and the formation due to the union of peaks causes the chemical
peak of 745 cm-1 moved to lower frequency at 740 cm-1. reaction with electron rich group’s attack. The sample of ots6
Especially, the related with 740 cm-1 and 745 cm-1 changed is the first sample with the result of nucleophilic attack
abruptly between ots5 and ots6 samples. The peak of 745 cm-1 reaction. Figure 2(b) shows the broad Si-O-C main band of
of SiO2 film shifts to lower frequency in the OTS treated SiO2 800~1040 cm-1. All the samples have this bond in this range.
films. There are the bands of 1050~1220 cm-1 of the SiO2 film
without 1175 cm-1 and the OTS treated SiO2 films with 1175
cm-1 as shown in Fig. 2(c).
(a) Figure 3(a) shows the leakage current of samples according
SiO2 to the increasing concentration of OTS treatment. The leakage
current on SiO2 film shows gradual improvement owing to the
Absorbance (arb.units)

ots5
treatment by the OTS diluted solution. Figure 3(b) shows the
I-V curve of samples between ots5~ots8, which are the range
ots6 of the variation of FTIR spectra as previous figure 2(a). The
ots7 sample of ots7 is the lowest leakage current, but the threshold
voltage shifts in comparison with the sample of ots6. It means
ots8
that the sample of ots6 is good electrical properties. The figure
680 ots9 2(c) shows the ots6 sample is better than the ots2 sample in
720 745
view of the electrical properties. The shift of the threshold
660 680 700 720 740 760 780 800
-1 voltage is affected in character by the increase of the leakage
Wave number (cm )
current, which is induced the polarity such as ion or cation.

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 3.00E-012
-12
5.0x10 Vg=-20V
(a)
ots8 ots5
2.00E-012 SiO2 0.0

ots1
Current (A)

-12
-5.0x10

Id (A)
1.00E-012
ots7
ots2 ots6
-11
-1.0x10

0.00E+000
-11
-1.5x10

-1.00E-012
0 5 10 15 20 -11
-2.0x10
-40 -30 -20 -10 0
Voltage (V)
Vd (V)

1.50E-012 Fig. 4. Id-Vd curve of various films at Vg=-20V.

(b)
ots8
ots5
IV. CONCLUSION
1.00E-012
Current (A)

ots6 The surface of SiO2 film was modified by the n-

octadecyltrichlorosilane to improve the electrical properties.
ots7 The leakage current decreased non-linearly according to the
5.00E-013
treatment of OTS diluted solution on SiO2 film, and the
sample of ots6 was the lowest leakage current. The
characteristic of leakage current was affected properties of the
0.00E+000 transistor’s electricity. The peaks of 718 cm-1 and 745 cm-1 in
0 5 10 15 20 SiO2 film was shifted with the increasing of the OTS treatment.
Voltage (V) The FTIR spectra varied abruptly between sample 5 and
sample 6. The weak bond of 745 cm-1 was attracted to the
1.50E-012
(c)
neighboring bond of 720 cm-1 and became the broad band of
700~800 cm-1. The bond elongation effect as shown in this
1.00E-012
result decreased the leakage current.
ots2 ots6
Current (A)

5.00E-013

V. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
0.00E+000

ots3 This research was financially supported by the Ministry of

-5.00E-013
-1.00E-012
0 5
Voltage (V)
Fig. 3. Electrical properties of samples according to the
increasing concentration of OTS treatment.
Figure 4 shows the Id-Vd curve of various films at Vg=-20V.
The characteristic of ots5 or ots8 sample are inferior then that
of ots6 or ots7 samples. The sample of ots7 is higher
characteristic then the sample of ots6, but the shift
phenomenon is large at the ots7 sample in comparison with
the ots6 sample. The shift of the Id-Vd curve is similar
tendency to move the threshold voltage as shown in Fig. 3(b).
The samples of ots5, ots7 and ots8 flow abruptly leakage
current at high voltage of Vd. This result is related with the
breakdown effect at high voltage, and then it means that the
suitable sample as insulator is the samples of ots6.
Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) and Korea
Industrial Technology Foundation (KOTEF) through the
Human Resource Training Project for Regional Innovation
10 15 20
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