Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy has proven itself as a useful tool for studying surface reactions on a variety of substrate materials. For instance, it has been widely used for studying surface modification reactions of organosilane precursors on the silica surface. However, bulk silica has limited transmission in the mid-IR, and special experimental techniques are required to examine spectral features in portions of this range. This is especially problematic given that the precursor-substrate bonds often absorb in this difficult to probe range. Here we report on a new technique for probing spectral features in this range of the spectrum. Briefly, a silica layer is deposited onto an attenuated total reflection element from the vapor phase, and the resulting spectra are recorded in-situ. In this study, ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy are used to characterize silica films formed by this technique, and a resulting infrared spectrum for a representative chlorosilane precursor is reported.

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