Adsorption of Unsaturated Hydrocarbon Moieties on H:Si(111) by Grignard Reaction

What a difference a bond makes: the structural, chemical, and physical properties of methyl-terminated Si(111) surfaces

The chemical, electronic, and structural properties of surfaces are affected by the chemical termination of the surface. Two-step halogenation/alkylation of silicon provides a scalable, wet-chemical method for grafting molecules onto the silicon surface. Unlike other commonly studied wet-chemical methods of surface modification, such as self-assembly of monolayers on metals or hydrosilylation on silicon, the two-step method enables attachment of small alkyl chains, even methyl groups, to a silicon surface with high surface coverage and homogeneity. The methyl-terminated Si(111) surface, by comparison to hydrogen-terminated Si(111), offers a unique opportunity to study the effects of the first surface bond connecting the overlayer to the surface. This Account describes studies of methyl-terminated Si(111), which have shown that the H-Si(111) and CH3-Si(111) surfaces are structurally nearly identical, yet impart significantly different chemical and electronic properties to the resulting Si surface. The structure of methyl-terminated Si(111) formed by a two-step halogenation/methylation process has been studied by a variety of spectroscopic methods. A covalent Si-C bond is oriented normal to the surface, with the methyl group situated directly atop a surface Si atom. Multiple spectroscopic methods have shown that methyl groups achieve essentially complete coverage of the surface atoms while maintaining the atomically flat, terraced structure of the original H-Si(111) surface. Thus, the H-Si(111) and CH3-Si(111) surface share essentially identical structures aside from the replacement of a Si-H bond with a Si-C bond. Despite their structural similarity, hydrogen and methyl termination exhibit markedly different chemical passivation. Specifically, CH3-Si(111) exhibits significantly greater oxidation resistance than H-Si(111) in air and in aqueous electrolyte under photoanodic current flow. Both surfaces exhibit similar thermal stability in vacuum, and the Si-H and Si-C bond strengths are expected to be very similar, so the results suggest that methyl termination presents a greater kinetic barrier to oxidation of the underlying Si surface. Hydrogen termination of Si(111) provides nearly perfect electronic passivation of surface states (i.e., less than 1 electronic defect per 40 million surface atoms), but this electronic passivation is rapidly degraded by oxidation in air or under electrochemical conditions. In contrast, methyl termination provides excellent electronic passivation that resists degradation due to oxidation. Moreover, alkylation modifies the surface electronic structure by creating a surface dipole that effectively changes the electron affinity of the Si surface, facilitating modification of the charge-transfer kinetics across Si/metal or Si/electrolyte junctions. This Account also briefly describes recent studies of mixed monolayers formed by the halogenation/alkylation of silicon. Mixed monolayers allow attachment of bulkier groups that enable secondary chemistry at the surface (e.g., attachment of molecular catalysts or seeding of atomic layer deposition) to be combined with methyl termination of remaining unreacted surface sites. Thus, secondary chemistry can be enabled while maintaining the chemical and electronic passivation provided by complete termination of surface atoms with Si-C bonds. Such studies of mixed monolayers demonstrate the potential use of a wet-chemical surface modification scheme that combines both chemical and electronic passivation.

Secondary functionalization of allyl-terminated GaP(111)A surfaces via heck cross-coupling metathesis, hydrosilylation, and electrophilic addition of bromine

The functionalization of single crystalline gallium phosphide (GaP) (111)A surfaces with allyl groups has been performed using a sequential chlorine-activation/Grignard reaction process. Increased hydrophobicity following reaction of a GaP(111)A surface with C3H5MgCl was observed through water contact angle measurements. Infrared spectra of GaP(111)A samples after reaction with C3H5MgCl showed the asymmetric C═C and C═C-H modes diagnostic of surface-attached allyl groups. The stability of allyl-terminated GaP(111)A surfaces under ambient and aqueous conditions was investigated. XP spectra of allyl-terminated GaP(111)A highlighted a significant resistance against interfacial oxidation both in air and in water relative to the native interface. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy indicated a change in the flat-band potential of allyl-terminated GaP(111)A electrodes immersed in water relative to native GaP(111)A surfaces. Further, the flat-band potentials for allyl-terminated electrodes were insensitive to changes in solution pH. The utility of surface-bound allyl groups for covalent secondary functionalization of GaP(111)A interfaces was assessed through three separate reactions: Heck cross-coupling metathesis, hydrosilylation, and electrophilic addition of bromine reactions. Addition of aryl groups across the olefins on allyl-terminated GaP(111)A via Heck cross coupling was performed and confirmed through high-resolution F 1s and C 1s XP spectra and IR spectra. Control experiments with GaP(111)A surfaces functionalized with short alkanes indicated no evidence for metathesis. Hydrosilylation reactions were separately performed. Si 2s XP spectra, in conjunction with infrared spectra, similarly showed secondary evidence of surface functionalization for allyl-terminated GaP(111)A but not for CH3-terminated GaP(111)A surfaces. Similar analyses showed electrophilic addition of Br2 across the terminal olefin on an allyl-terminated GaP(111)A surface after exposure to dilute Br2 solutions in CH2Cl2. The work presented herein establishes a set of secondary reaction strategies utilizing allyl-terminated surfaces to modify chemically protected GaP surfaces.

Electrochemical and thermal grafting of alkyl grignard reagents onto (100) silicon surfaces

Passivation of (100) silicon surfaces using alkyl Grignard reagents is explored via electrochemical and thermal grafting methods. The electrochemical behavior of silicon in methyl or ethyl Grignard reagents in tetrahydrofuran is investigated using cyclic voltammetry. Surface morphology and chemistry are investigated using atomic force microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Results show that electrochemical pathways provide an efficient and more uniform passivation method relative to thermal methods, and XPS results demonstrate that electrografted terminations are effective at limiting native oxide formation for more than 55 days in ambient conditions. A two-electron per silicon mechanism is proposed for electrografting a single (1:1) alkyl group per (100) silicon atom. The mechanism includes oxidation of two Grignard species and subsequent hydrogen abstraction and alkylation reaction resulting in a covalent attachment of alkyl groups with silicon.

Vibrational and electronic characterization of ethynyl derivatives grafted onto hydrogenated Si(111) surfaces

Covalent grafting of ethynyl derivatives (-C triple bond C-H, -C triple bond C-CH3, -C triple bond C-aryl) onto H-terminated Si(111) surfaces was performed by a one-step anodic treatment in Grignard electrolytes. The electrochemical grafting of such ethynyl derivatives, which tends to form ultrathin polymeric layers, can be controlled by the current and charge flow passing through the Si electrode. The prepared ultrathin layers cover the Si surface and had a thickness up to 20 nm, as investigated by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique. Exchanging Cl for Br in the ethynyl Grignard reagent leads to very thin layers, even under the same electrochemical conditions. However, for all ethynyl derivatives, high-resolution synchrotron X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (SXPS) investigations reveal the incorporation of halogen atoms in the organic layers obtained. Moreover, it was observed that the larger the end group of the ethynyl derivative, the thinner the thickness of the ultrathin polymeric layers as measured by both SXPS and SEM techniques after low and high current flow respectively. For the first time, these new types of ultrathin organic layers on Si surfaces were investigated using infrared spectroscopic ellipsometry (IRSE). The different possible reaction pathways are discussed.