Imprinting well-controlled nanopores in organosilicate dielectric films: Triethoxysilyl-modified six-armed poly(ε-caprolactone) and its chemical hybridization with an organosilicate precursor

The two-dimensional (2D) grazing-incidence small-angle x-ray scattering (GISAXS) technique was used to characterize the pore shape, size distribution, electron density and porosity in nanoporous dielectric thin films of a nanoscale thickness. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the nanopores generated in the sample polymethylsilsesquioxane (PMSSQ) film were spherical in shape and that their size were around 5 nm. The pores were generated in the film by the the sacrificial thermal degradation of the star shaped mPCL6 (six-armed poly(ε-caprolactone)). The results show that the triethoxysilyl modification of the end groups of the PCL6 porogen reduces the aggregation of the porogen molecules in the preparation of sample film.