Controlled growth of silicon dioxide (SiO 2 ) using tetrachlorosilane (SiCl 4 ) and water as precursors on tris(trimethylsiloxy)chlorosilane (trisTMSCl)-modified silicon wafer templates was studied. By manipulating the kinetics of the vapor-phase reaction of trisTMSCl with silicon wafers, surfaces with varying densities and distributions of unreacted silanols (in nanoholes) were obtained. Subsequent treatment with SiCl 4 /H 2 O led to site-specific growth of silica from the nanoholes that was monitored by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Different nanoscale structures with varying surface roughness and wettability were fabricated by controlling the growth kinetics. Modification of the newly grown silica with tridecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrooctyldimethylchlorosilane (FDCS) allowed the growth kinetics to be followed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Chemical etching effectively removed the organic residues, resulting in hydrophilic silica surfaces with nanoscale roughness. Further modification with FDCS rendered the surfaces hydrophobic. Water contact angle analysis and AFM clearly indicate that nanometer scale topography has a profound effect on surface wettability.
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Jia et al. (2003) studied this question.