A study on electron impact dissociative ionization of organosilicon precursors for plasma processing.

We discussed the electron impact dissociation behavior of the organosilicon molecules with methyl groups, based on the fragment pattern and molecular-orbital calculation of the bond dissociation energies for the molecules. From the calculation of bond dissociation energy of the organosilicon molecules, methyl groups, which bonded directly to the silicon atom, were found to have the weakest. Regarding the fragment patterns of the reactants investigated by a quadrupole mass spectrometer, the hexamethyldisiloxane was harder to dissociate than the trimethylmethoxysilane due to the strong Si-O bonding force, which also affected the dissociation in the plasma. From the above considerations, dissociation reactions by electron impact could be partly identified.