ORMOSIL thin films: tuning mechanical properties via a nanochemistry approach

The mechanical properties (hardness and elastic modulus) of organically modified silicate thin films can be finely tuned by varying the degree of alkylation and thus the fraction of six- and four-membered siloxane rings in the organosilica matrix. This opens the way to large tunability of parameters that are of crucial practical importance for films that are finding increasing application in numerous fields ranging from microelectronics to chemical sensing.