A novel high-performance composite material with low dielectric constant and excellent hydrophobicity.

Films with low dielectric constants have broad prospective applications in microelectronic devices. In this study, octavinyloctasilasesquioxane (POSS) was grafted with fluorinated long carbon chains on its eight vertices by clicking reaction. The successful synthesis of fluorinated POSS (F-POSS) was confirmed by NMR, FT-IR, and XPS analyses. Then, the F-POSS/poly (arylene sulfide sulfone) (F-POSS/PASS) composite films were fabricated via solution casting. When 15 wt.% of F-POSS was added, the dielectric constant of the F-POSS/PASS film at 1 MHz decreased from 3.52 to 2.65, while the Tan δ value dropped from 1.18*10–2 to 9.32*10–3, respectively. The developed F-POSS/PASS film showed excellent hydrophobicity (water contact angle of 120.3°) which was attributed to the fluorinated long carbon chains. In addition, the optimized F-POSS/PASS film also exhibited good mechanical properties (tensile strength 66.87 MPa), promising thermal stability, and flame-retardant property. Given the above-mentioned excellent properties, the F-POSS/PASS composite films will have great potential in the fabrication of microelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]