An Investigation on Surface Sol-Gel Silica Film

Abstract

Ultrathin silica films were grown on polyimide substrates using surface sol-gel method and the film growth process was characterized by ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. The polyimide substrates were pretreated by chemical process for promoting the growth of silica film. On the modified polymide surface, the growth of silica films shows an island-like growth type, but not a lay-by-lay process. Moreover, the deposited silica films are not a strict SiO2 film.