Open AccessGas Phase Chemistry of Trimethylboron in Thermal Chemical Vapor Deposition
Author(s) -
Mewlude Imam,
Laurent Souqui,
Jan Herritsch,
Andreas Stegmüller,
Carina Höglund,
Susann Schmidt,
R. Hall-Wilton,
Hans Högberg,
Jens Birch,
Ralf Tonner,
Henrik Pedersen
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the journal of physical chemistry c
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.401
H-Index - 289
eISSN - 1932-7455
pISSN - 1932-7447
DOI - 10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b09538
Subject(s) - chemical vapor deposition , methane , quantum chemical , boron , amorphous solid , chemistry , argon , chemical engineering , gas phase , phase (matter) , chemical reaction , thin film , materials science , inorganic chemistry , nanotechnology , organic chemistry , molecule , engineering
Alkylboranes, such as trimethylboron (TMB) and triethylboron (TEB), are promising alternative precursors in low-temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of boron-containing thin films. In this study, CVD growth of B–C films using TMB and quantum-chemical calculations to elucidate a gas phase chemical mechanism were undertaken. Dense, amorphous, boron-rich (B/C = 1.5–3) films were deposited at 1000 °C in both dihydrogen and argon ambients, while films with crystalline B4C and B25C inclusions were deposited at 1100 °C in dihydrogen. A script-based automatization scheme was implemented for the quantum-chemical computations to enable time efficient screening of thousands of possible gas phase CVD reactions. The quantum-chemical calculations suggest TMB is mainly decomposed by an unimolecular α-H elimination of methane, which is complemented by dihydrogen-assisted elimination of methane in dihydrogen.
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