• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.8
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• pp.804-809
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• 1999

Silica films were prepared on Si single crystal substrates by a sol-gel process without DMF using TEOS as a starting material. Films were fabricated by spin coating technique. For films having a composition of TEOS : HCI(1:0.05mol), gelation time, the thickness of films, the formation of cracks and the microstructure of the films were investigated as a function of the molar ratio of $CH_3OH and H_2O$. With 8mol $CH_3OH$, the longest gelation time was measured to be 640hr. The thickness of the coated films was decreased with increasing content of $CH_3OH$. The films were sintered at $500^{\circ}C$ for 1hr with a heating rate of $0.6^{\circ}C$/min. The coated films showed worm-like grains and partially cracked microstructures at an amount of $CH_3OH$ 2mol and 4mol. The addition of more than 8 mole of $CH_2OH$ resulted in crack-free silica films. This suggests that crack-free films can be fabricated by controlling the surface tension energy of the sol solutions without DMF.