Achieving Molecular Level Control over the Chemical, Electrochemical, and Electrical Properties of Crystalline Si Surfaces

在化学系分析与表面化学系的支持下，Nathan S.加州理工学院的刘易斯和他的同事们正在研究晶体硅表面的表面化学。 在这项工作中的重点是硅表面的湿化学处理，与开发的方法来抑制在电化学环境中的硅的氧化，控制硅表面上的电介质和阻挡层的形成，并附加氧化还原活性基团的表面在受控的几何形状的目标。 研究人员还在探索将纳米级材料的图案化层附着和形成到改性硅表面的方法。 这项工作建立在主要研究者实验室开发的卤化/烷基化化学的基础上，将影响硅在太阳能电池应用中的使用，对界面电子转移的基本理解，以及硅基传感器器件的开发。 这一工作的控制电镀和电催化的应用也被期望。控制晶体硅表面的表面化学是分析和表面化学计划支持的本研究项目的目标。 基于硅表面的卤化和随后的烷基化的湿化学处理方法被用于钝化和改性硅表面，并可控地在硅表面上存款纳米尺寸的颗粒。 这项工作将影响表面和分析化学的广泛领域，包括传感器设备的开发，太阳能的转换和半导体表面的金属涂层。

With the support of the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Nathan S. Lewis and his coworkers at the California Institute of Technology are investigating the surface chemistry of crystalline silicon surfaces. The emphasis in this work is on the wet chemical processing of silicon surfaces, with the goal of developing methods to suppress oxidation of silicon in the electrochemical environment, to control the formation of dielectric and barrier layers on the silicon surface, and to attach redox active groups to the surface in controlled geometries. Work is also underway to explore the attachment and formation of patterned layers of nanoscale materials to the modified silicon surface. The work builds on halogenation/alkylation chemistry developed in the Principal Investigator's laboratory and will impact the use of silicon in solar cell applications, the basic understanding of electron transfer at interfaces, and the development of silicon based-sensor devices. Applications of this work to controlled electroplating and electrocatalysis are also expected. The control of the surface chemistry of crystalline silicon surfaces is the goal of this research project supported in the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program. Wet chemical processing methods based on halogenation and subsequent alkylation of the silicon surface are used to passivate and modify the silicon surface, and to controllably deposit nanometer sized particles on the silicon surface. This work will impact broad areas of surface and analytical chemistry, including the development of sensor devices, the conversion of solar energy, and the metallic coating of semiconductor surfaces.