Development of bio-based F-SBA-15 reinforced epoxy nanocomposites for low-k dielectric applications

Abstract

The present work focuses on the utilization of renewable biomaterial as reinforcement for the development of nanocomposites for high-performance low- k microelectronic applications. In the present work, rice husk ash (RHA) was chemically treated and processed to obtain two-dimensional mesoporous silica (SBA-15), which was functionalized using 3-glycidoxypropyl trimethoxy silane through sonication process. The surface functionalized SBA-15 (F-SBA-15) with varying weight percentages (1, 3, and 5 wt%) was incorporated into the epoxy resin. The resulting F-SBA-15-reinforced epoxy composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, and impedance analyzer. Among the composite samples with varying loadings, the dielectric behavior of 5 wt% F-SBA-15-loaded composite sample possesses the lowest value of dielectric constant, that is, 2.14 at 1 MHz frequency when compared with that of other samples. Further, the thermal stability was also enhanced to an appreciable extent, when compared with that of the samples with lower F-SBA-15 loadings.