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One Step Synthesis of a PerchlorinatedCyclohexasilane from Trichlorosilane: A Route to New Materials for Flexible Electronics

Conference ·
OSTI ID:977238
 [1]
  1. North Dakota State Univeristy

The serendipitous discovery of tetradecachlorocyclohexasilane dianion 1 was recently reported by our group at NDSU. The dianion is isolated from a mixture of an amine template (pentaethyldiethylenetriamine, pedeta) and HSiCl{sub 3} as insoluble colorless crystals that are easily reduced to give cyclohexasilane (Si{sub 6}H{sub 12}) in high yields and purity. While the product Si{sub 6}H{sub 12} has been shown to be useful as a liquid silane precursor to a-Si:H rectifying diodes and field effect transistors, these initial studies show a non-uniform dopant distributions. The need for a homogeneous dopant has led our group to further develop the chemistry of cyclohexasilane. Toward that end, we have focused on the design of molecules that contain a single dopant moiety bound to one or more Si{sub 6} ring(s). New Si{sub 6}H{sub 11}E compounds (where E is an n-type or p-type dopant) are being investigated (eqs. 2, 3) and initial results will be reported including the isolation of chlorocyclohexasilane, Si{sub 6}H{sub 11}Cl. In addition, several different triamine ligand templates to for Si{sub 6}Cl{sub 14}{sup 2-} salts were investigated toward optimizing the yield and ease of isolation for both the salt and the product liquid silane. Cyclohexasilane (Si{sub 6}H{sub 12})-based inks have been used as liquid precursor to silicon-containing electronic materials. Spin-coating of Si{sub 6}H{sub 12}-based inks with subsequent UV light and/or thermal treatment yielded amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) films. Initial results demonstrated the formation of n-type and p-type a-Si that were used in heterojunction structures (i.e., thin a-Si films on heavily-doped Si wafer substrates). While present ink chemistries produce a-Si:H with a high resistivity (i.e., > 10{sup 6} {Omega}.cm), efforts are under development to address this limitation. Additionally, a new printing approach (i.e., collimated aerosol beam direct write, CAB-DW) was developed that allows the deposition of silane-based features with linewidths <10 {micro}m. Assuming silicon-based materials with good electrical properties will be developed, there may be significant cost advantages associated with the ability to controllably deposit the semiconductor in a metered fashion.

Research Organization:
North Dakota State Univeristy
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE)
DOE Contract Number:
FG36-08GO88160
OSTI ID:
977238
Report Number(s):
DOE/GO/88160-12
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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