Conformal Organic−Inorganic Hybrid Network Polymer Thin Films by Molecular Layer Deposition using Trimethylaluminum and Glycidol

Growing interest in nanoscale organic-inorganic hybrid network polymer materials is driving exploration of new bulk and thin film synthesis reaction mechanisms. Molecular layer deposition (MLD) is a vapor-phase deposition process, based on atomic layer deposition (ALD) which proceeds by exposing a surface to an alternating sequence of two or more reactant species, where each surface half-reaction goes to completion before the next reactant exposure. This work describes film growth using trimethyl aluminum and heterobifunctional glycidol at moderate temperatures (90-150 °C), producing a relatively stable organic-inorganic network polymer of the form (-Al-O-(C(4)H(8))-O-)(n). Film growth rate and in situ reaction analysis indicate that film growth does not initially follow a steady-state rate, but increases rapidly during early film growth. The mechanism is consistent with subsurface species transport and trapping, previously documented during MLD and ALD on polymers. A water exposure step after the TMA produces a more linear growth rate, likely by blocking TMA subsurface diffusion. Uniform and conformal films are formed on complex nonplanar substrates. Upon postdeposition annealing, films transform into microporous metal oxides with ∼5 Å pore size and surface area as high as ∼327 m(2)/g, and the resulting structures duplicate the shape of the original substrate. These hybrid films and porous materials could find uses in several research fields including gas separations and diffusion barriers, biomedical scaffolds, high surface area coatings, and others.