FABRICATION AND CHARACTERATION OF NANOPOROUS SILICA FILM

Colloidal silica sol is formed by a novel hydrolyzing procedure of tetraethyl-orthosilicate(TEOS) catalyzing with NH3*H2O in aqueous mediums. Glycerol, combining with the hydrolyzed intermediates of TEOS, controls growing of the silica particles; poly(vinyl-vinyl alcohol makes the colloidal silica sol with polymeric structure and spinning, thermal strain makes the gel silica film changed into a nanoporous structure with diameter ranging 50-150 nm. Morphologies of the nanoporous silica film have been characterized; the porosities (%) is 32-64; the average dielectric constant at 1MHz region is 2.0 and 2.1; the thermal conductivity is less than 0.8. Chemical mechanism of the sol-gel process is discussed.