Transmission Electron Microscopy and Electron Energy-Loss Spectroscopy Study of Nonstoichiometric Silicon-Carbon-Oxygen Glasses

Crystallization behavior of Si-C-O glasses in the temperature range of 1000°–1400°C was investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in conjunction with electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS). Si-C-O glasses were prepared by pyrolysis of polysiloxane networks obtained from homogeneous mixtures of triethoxysilane, T^H, and methyldiethoxysilane, D^H. Si-C-O glass composition depended on the molar ratio of the precursors utilized. At a ratio of T^H/D^H= 1, the formation of a carbon-rich glass was observed, whereas a ratio of T^H/D^H= 9 yielded a Si-C-O glass with excess free silicon. Both materials were amorphous at 1000°C, but showed a distinct difference in crystallization behavior on annealing at high temperature. Although T^H/D^H= 1 revealed a small volume fraction of SiC precipitates in addition to a very small amount of residual free carbon at 1400°C, T^H/D^H= 9 showed, in addition to SiC crystallites, numerous larger silicon precipitates (20–50 nm), even at 1200°C. Both materials underwent a phase separation process, SiC _x O_2(1-x)→ x SiC + (1 - x )SiO₂, when annealed at temperatures exceeding 1200°C.