Integrating Ormosil films onto microstructured semiconductor substrates

A process of heterogeneously integrating organically modified siliceous aerogel (Ormosil) films onto microstructured substrates is presented. These substrates are architecturally designed to mimic photon detectors for remote sensing applications. Here, ultrasonically homogenized Ormosil sols are drop-cast onto silicon micropyramidal arrays then dried in the ambient to produce highly porous low-density siliceous films with excellent uniformity. The highly facile process yields films endowed with high optical transmittance, high static contact angle of 168 degrees, excellent thermal stability up to 400 degrees C and, to some extent, excellent adhesion to the microstructured substrates on which they sit. Additional planarization benefits are easily afforded by controlling the substrate arraignment during the ambient drying process which the sol undergoes. In contrast, only conformal films were obtained when sols were spin coated over similar microstructured substrates. In correlating the resultant macroporous films' structural integrity with the underlying substrate topography, this study established that the weak physical bond between the facets of the microstructures and gel acts as crack nucleation points that induce and exacerbate crack propagation within the film. This phenomenon does not manifest itself when thinner films are prepared even on the same microstructured substrates as well as films of similar thickness on planar substrates. Initial studies establish that the non-homogenized sols can yield macroscopic aerogel monoliths with properties akin to those exhibited by supercritically dried monoliths. It is our belief that this study can enlighten the intricacies and pitfalls encountered when fabricating macroscopically monolithic Ormosil films over topographically structured surfaces. (C) 2014 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.