Ceramic vapor deposited coating using a steam-containing carrier gas and non-alkoxy silane precursors

Claim 3

The method of claim 1, wherein said precursor is an organosilicon compound containing nitrogen, carbon and hydrogen atoms.

Claim 4

The method of claim 2, wherein said precursor contains at least two silicon atoms, wherein at least two silicon atoms are bonded to a single nitrogen atom.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1, wherein said precursor is a silane having 1 to about 30 carbon atoms.

Claim 6

The method of claim 2, wherein said precursor is a silane having 1 to about 20 carbon atoms.

Claim 7

The method according to claim 1, wherein said ceramic material consists essentially of silicon, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen or silicon, carbon and oxygen, and said ceramic material contains 50 to 67 atomic % of oxygen and 0 to 30 atomic % of free elemental carbon.

Claim 8

The method according to claim 1, wherein said precursor is a silicon compound which is volatile at temperatures below those employed in the decomposition process.

Claim 9

The method of claim 1, wherein said precursor has the structure shown below ##STR7## wherein each R is, independently, hydrogen, C 1-20 alkyl, halogen or NR 1 R 2 , where R 1 and R 2 are hydrogen, C 1-20 alkyl or SiR 3 R 4 R 5 where R 3 , R 4 and R 5 are independently hydrogen, C 1-20 alkyl, halogen or NR 1 R 2 and X is H or SiR 3 R 4 R 5 with the proviso that the precursor is not hexamethyldisilazane.

Claim 10

The method of claim 8, wherein said precursor is selected from the group consisting of heptamethyl-chlorotrisilazane, 1,3-dichloro-1,1,3,3-tetramethyl disilazane, 1,2,3-trichloro hexamethyl trisilazane, ethyl-heptamethyl trisilazane, chloro-octamethyl trisilazane, nonamethyl trisilazane, 1,2,3-trichloro hexamethyl trisilazane, and 1,1-dichloro-1-ethyl-trimethyl disilazane.

Claim 13

The method of claim 10, wherein said precursor is selected from the group consisting of N-dimethylsilyl-1,1,3,3,5,5-hexamethyl-cyclotrisilazane; bis(N-dimethylsilyl)-1,1,3,3,5,5-hexamethyl-cyclotrisilazane; tris(N-dimethylsilyl)-1,1,3,3,5,5-hexamethylcyclotrisilazane; and 1,1,3,3,5,5-hexamethyltrisilazane.

Claim 16

The method of claim 10, wherein R 6 , R 7 and R 11 are independently C 1-8 alkyl.

Claim 19

The method of claim 14, wherein R 6 and R 12 are independently C 1-8 alkyl.

Claim 20

The method of claim 1, wherein said precursor has the structure shown below ##STR11## wherein each R is independently hydrogen, C 1-20 alkyl, halogen or NR 1 R 2 , wherein R 1 and R 2 are independently hydrogen, C 1-20 alkyl, halogen or SiR 3 R 4 R 5 where R 3 , R 4 and R 5 are independently hydrogen, C 1-20 alkyl, halogen or NR 1 R 2 ; and A is a divalent alkylene, arylene or alkylarylene group.

Claim 21

The method of claim 16, wherein R, R 1 and R 2 are C 1-8 alkyl and A is C 2-6 alkylene, C 6-10 arylene or C 8-16 alkylarylene.

Claim 22

The method of claim 1, wherein said carrier gas is a mxiture of steam and a gas selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, argon, helium, methane, ethylene, ethane, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and mixtures thereof.

Claim 23

The method of claim 18, wherein the concentration of steam in said mixture is in the range between about 10 and 100 volume %.

Claim 24

The method of claim 1, wherein said carrier gas is steam.

Claim 25

The method of claim 19, wherein said carrier gas is a mixture of steam and nitrogen.

Claim 26

The method of claim 19, wherein said carrier gas is a mixture of steam, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.

Claim 27

The method of claim 1, wherein the concentration of said precursor in said carrier gas is less than 10.0 volume percent.

Claim 28

The method of claim 23, wherein the concentration of said precursor in said carrier gas is less than 5.0 volume percent.

Claim 29

The method of claim 4, wherein said process is thermal decomposition carried out at a temperature of between 600° and 1000° C.

Claim 30

The method of claim 25, wherein said temperature is between 700° and 900° C.

Claim 31

The method according to claim 2, wherein said precursor is selected from the group consisting of hexamethyldisilazane, tetramethylsilane, (diethylamino)trimethylsilane, nonamethyltrisilazane, (isopropylamino)trimethylsilane, (dimethylamino)trimethylsilane, heptamethyldisilazane, bis(isopropylamino)dimethylsilane, hexamethyldisilane, tetramethyldisilazane, (diethylamino)triethylsilane, tetrakis(dimethylamino)silane, bis(dimethylamino)methylsilane, (dimethylamino)triethylsilane, trimethylsilane, (dimethylamino)benzyldimethylsilane, (2-picolylamino)trimethylsilane, tris(dimethylamino)triethylsilane, tris(isopropylamino)methylsilane, dimethylsilane, bis(diethylamino)methylsilane, (dimethylamino)benzylmethylsilane, butylmethylphenylsilane, (diisopropylamino)methylchlorosilane, octamethyltrisilazane, bis(dimethylamino)phenylsilane, benzylmethylsilane, triisopropylsilane, tris(dimethylamino)methylsilane, diethylmethylsilane, triethylsilane, bis(dimethylamino) ethylsilane, hexamethyltrisilazane, and (dimethylamino)dimethylsilane.

Claim 32

The method of claim 1, wherein said precursor is selected from the group consisting of hexaethyldisiloxane, tris(trimethylsilylamino)ethylsiloxane, hexamethyldisiloxane, 1,1,3,3,5-hexamethylcyclotrisiloxane, tris(trimethylsilylamino)ethylsiloxane-mono-tetramethylsilane, tris(trimethylsilylamino)ethylsiloxane-di-tetramethylsilane, tris(trimethylsilylamino)ethylsiloxane-tri-tetramethylsilane, and octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane.

Claim 33

The method of claim 27, wherein said precursor is hexamethyldisilazane.

Claim 34

The method of claim 27, wherein said precursor is dimethylaminotriethylsilane.

Claim 35

The method of claim 27, wherein said precursor is tris(dimethylamino)triethylsilane.

Claim 36

The method of claim 2, wherein said precursor consists of a mixture of 30-10 volume % of at least one first compound selected from the group consisting of tris(dimethylamino)ethylsilane, bis(dimethylamino)diethylsilane, dimethylaminoethylsilane and tris(monomethylamino)ethylsilane, and 70-90 volume % of a precursor different than said first compound.