Mechanism for Breakage of Si-O Networks of SiO2 Films in HF Solutions

1997 ◽  
Vol 492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoki Oku ◽  
Ryo Hattori ◽  
Kazuhiko Sato

ABSTRACTAn extended Hiickel calculation was employed to calculate the total electronic energy and the electron density during the breakage of the Si-O networks of a (F3SiO)2FSiOSiF(OSiF3)2 cluster modelled on the a-cristobalite structure. The Si-O networks are opened by the attack of F- ions on the silicon atoms, and the reaction is exthothermic by 2.7 eV through the attack of H+ ions on the oxygen atoms. Although the hydrogen termination of the oxygen atoms is an early reaction, the fluorine termination of the silicon atoms is a late reaction. The atomic bond population on the Si-O bonds decreases to zero by opening the Si-O networks. We conclude that the a-cristobalite and a-quartz SiO2 are dissolved in HF solutions since the Si-O networks are easily opened by the attack of F- ions. Our conclusion indicates that both cosite and stishovite SiO2, which are not dissolved in the HF solutions, are composed of Si-O networks that can be hardly opened by the attack of F- ions. Moreover, we propose the continual breakage of Si-O networks without the desorption of H2O molecules as an etching mechanism of SiO2 films.

Author(s):  
Vladimir Tsirelson ◽  
Adam Stash

This work extends the orbital-free density functional theory to the field of quantum crystallography. The total electronic energy is decomposed into electrostatic, exchange, Weizsacker and Pauli components on the basis of physically grounded arguments. Then, the one-electron Euler equation is re-written through corresponding potentials, which have clear physical and chemical meaning. Partial electron densities related with these potentials by the Poisson equation are also defined. All these functions were analyzed from viewpoint of their physical content and limits of applicability. Then, they were expressed in terms of experimental electron density and its derivatives using the orbital-free density functional theory approximations, and applied to the study of chemical bonding in a heteromolecular crystal of ammonium hydrooxalate oxalic acid dihydrate. It is demonstrated that this approach allows the electron density to be decomposed into physically meaningful components associated with electrostatics, exchange, and spin-independent wave properties of electrons or with their combinations in a crystal. Therefore, the bonding information about a crystal that was previously unavailable for X-ray diffraction analysis can be now obtained.


2005 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 418-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam I. Stash ◽  
Kiyoaki Tanaka ◽  
Kazunari Shiozawa ◽  
Hitoshi Makino ◽  
Vladimir G. Tsirelson

A topological analysis of the experimental electron density in racemic ethylenebis(1-indenyl)zirconium dichloride, C20H16Cl2Zr, measured at 100 (1) K, has been performed. The atomic charges calculated by the numerical integration of the electron density over the zero-flux atomic basins demonstrate the charge transfer of 2.25 e from the Zr atom to the two indenyl ligands (0.19 e to each) and two Cl atoms (0.93 e to each). All the atomic interactions were quantitatively characterized in terms of the electron density and the electronic energy-density features at the bond critical points. The Zr—C2 bond paths significantly curved towards the C1—C2 bond were found; no other bond paths connecting the Zr atom and indenyl ligand were located. At the same time, the π-electrons of the C1—C2 bond are significantly involved in the metal–ligand interaction. The electron density features indicate that the indenyl coordination can be approximately described as η1 with slippage towards η2. The `ligand-opposed' charge concentrations around the Zr atom were revealed using the Laplacian of the electron density and the one-particle potential; they were linked to the orbital representations. Bonds in the indenyl ligand were characterized using the Cioslowski–Mixon bond-order indices calculated directly from the experimental electron density.


2006 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 676-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. G. Tsirelson ◽  
A. I. Stash ◽  
V. A. Potemkin ◽  
A. A. Rykounov ◽  
A. D. Shutalev ◽  
...  

The electron density and electronic energy densities in ethyl 4,6-dimethyl-2-thioxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidine-5-carboxylate have been studied from accurate X-ray diffraction measurements at 110 K and theoretical single-molecule and periodic crystal calculations. The Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules and Crystals (QTAMC) was applied to analyze the electron-density and electronic energy-density features to estimate their reproducibility in molecules and crystals. It was found that the local electron-density values at the bond critical points derived by different methods are in reasonable agreement, while the Laplacian of the electron density computed from wavefunctions, and electron densities derived from experimental or theoretical structure factors in terms of the Hansen–Coppens multipole model differ significantly. This disagreement results from insufficient flexibility of the multipole model to describe the longitudinal electron-density curvature in the case of shared atomic interactions. This deficiency runs through all the existing QTAMC bonding descriptors which contain the Laplacian term. The integrated atomic characteristics, however, suffer noticeably less from the aforementioned shortcoming. We conclude that the electron-density and electronic energy QTAMC characteristics derived from wavefunctions, especially the integrated quantities, are nowadays the most suitable candidates for analysis of the transferability of atoms and atomic groups in similar compounds.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Richard Kleingeld

<p>Spectroscopy is the science of utilising light in order to divine information about a molecule or system of molecules. Specifically, the absorption, emission, and scattering of different wavelengths of light can provide data about bond strength, bond order, vibrational frequency, and excitation energy [1, 2]. As the wavelength and therefore energy of the incident photons can be set by the instrument, the exact energies of absorbance or emission of the molecule can be measured. This data can be gathered experimentally using specialised equipment however some molecules resist synthesis, and so a wealth of data about many theoretically possible species eludes us. We may also want to isolate the molecule in “empty space” whereas “gas phase” measurements are not always possible. This is one place where computational chemistry comes to the fore. Using an appropriate computational method such as density functional theory (DFT), data can be theoretically derived and calculated for many interesting areas of chemistry. DFT is a computational method based on the findings of Hohenberg and Kohn in 1964 that the ground state electronic energy of a system can be determined completely by the electron density [3-6]. This means that it has a considerably higher efficiency as a computational method compared to the wave function approach, where the number of variables increases exponentially as your system increases in size, as the electron density has the same number of variables regardless of the size of the system [7]. The use of an appropriate functional to map the electron density and the energy is one of the vital choices in utilising this method, but if chosen well can provide good results with a much lower computational cost than other methods, while still accounting for electron correlation effects [8]. It has become a very popular method due to its versatility and generally good accuracy with relatively low computational expense when compared to ab initio methods [9].</p>


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