Dehydrogenative silane coupling on silicon surfaces via early transition metal catalysis

Derivatization of silicon surfaces is an area of intense interest due to the centrality of silicon in the microelectronics industry and because of potential promise for a myriad of other applications. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of Si-Si bond formation directly on the surface to contrast with the more widely studied Si-C and Si-O bond forming reactions. Functionalization of hydride-terminated silicon surfaces with silanes is carried out via early transition metal mediated dehydrogenative silane coupling reactions. Zirconocene and titanocene catalyst systems were evaluated for heterocoupling of a molecular silane, RSiH3, with a surface Si-H group on Si(s). The zirconocene catalysts proved to be much more reactive than the titanium system, and so the former was examined exclusively. The silanes, aromatic or aliphatic, are bonded to the silicon surface through direct Si-Si bonds, although the level of incorporation of the trihydroarylsilanes was substantially higher than that of the aliphatic silanes. The reaction proceeds on nanocrystalline hydride-terminated porous silicon surfaces, as well as flat Si(100)-H(x) and Si(111)-H interfaces. The reactions were studied by a variety of techniques, including FTIR, SIMS, and XPS.