In situ thickness measurements of ultra-thin multilayer polymer films by atomic force microscopy

被引:91
作者
Lobo, RFM [1 ]
Pereira-da-Silva, MA [1 ]
Raposo, M [1 ]
Faria, RM [1 ]
Oliveira, ON [1 ]
机构
[1] USP, Inst Fis, BR-13560970 Sao Carlos, SP, Brazil
关键词
D O I
10.1088/0957-4484/10/4/305
中图分类号
TB3 [工程材料学];
学科分类号
0805 ; 080502 ;
摘要
A method for direct in situ thickness measurements of ultra-thin soft polymer films is presented in which an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip is used to create a furrow in the film, whereby the thickness is determined by scanning the sample across the furrow with the AFM. The sample does not need to be moved since the scratching and the measurements are performed with the same apparatus. This 'furrow method' is applied to layer-by-layer polymer/polyelectrolyte ultra-thin films onto hydrophilic glass and silicon wafer substrates. This procedure is made possible because the polymeric film is less stiff than the substrates and the silicon tip. Results for 10-12-bilayer films are comparable to those obtained from profilometry, whose accuracy is only reasonable for films with more than ten bilayers. Taken together, the AFM and profilometer results show that film thickness increases linearly with the number of bilayers. Furthermore, the film thickness does not seem to depend on the substrate used but only on the number of bilayers deposited.
引用
收藏
页码:389 / 393
页数:5
相关论文
共 15 条
[1]  
ADAMSON AW, 1982, PHYSICAL CHEM SURFAC
[2]   High-speed, high-accuracy optical measurements of polycrystalline silicon for process control [J].
Benson, TE ;
Ramamoorthy, A ;
Kamlet, LI ;
Terry, FL .
THIN SOLID FILMS, 1998, 313 :435-441
[3]   New method to estimate step heights in scanning-probe microscope images [J].
Edwards, H .
NANOTECHNOLOGY, 1997, 8 (01) :6-9
[4]   A COMBINATION OF ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY AND SECONDARY ION MASS-SPECTROMETRY FOR INVESTIGATION OF ALXGA1-XAS/GAAS SUPERLATTICES [J].
FRIEDBACHER, G ;
SCHWARZBACH, D ;
HANSMA, PK ;
NICKEL, H ;
GRASSERBAUER, M ;
STINGEDER, G .
FRESENIUS JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, 1993, 345 (8-9) :615-617
[5]   MOLECULAR RESOLUTION OF THIN, HIGHLY ORIENTED POLY(TETRAFLUOROETHYLENE) FILMS WITH THE ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPE [J].
HANSMA, H ;
MOTAMEDI, F ;
SMITH, P ;
HANSMA, P ;
WITTMAN, JC .
POLYMER, 1992, 33 (03) :647-649
[6]  
KUMAR VN, 1996, PRAMANA-J PHYS, V47, P136
[7]   Local cross-sectional profiling of multilayer thin films with an atomic force microscope for layer thickness determination [J].
LaGraff, JR ;
Murduck, JM .
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS RESEARCH, 1997, 12 (08) :1935-1938
[8]   SELF-ASSEMBLY OF N-ALKANETHIOLATE MONOLAYERS ON SILVER NANOSTRUCTURES - DETERMINATION OF THE APPARENT THICKNESS OF THE MONOLAYER BY SCANNING-TUNNELING-MICROSCOPY [J].
LI, WJ ;
VIRTANEN, JA ;
PENNER, RM .
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY, 1994, 98 (45) :11751-11755
[9]   Quantitative topography measurements of rolled aluminium surfaces by atomic force microscopy and optical methods [J].
Lindseth, I ;
Bardal, A .
SURFACE & COATINGS TECHNOLOGY, 1999, 111 (2-3) :276-286
[10]   Comparative study of polysilicon-on-oxide using spectroscopic ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy [J].
Petrik, P ;
Fried, M ;
Lohner, T ;
Berger, R ;
Biro, LP ;
Schneider, C ;
Gyulai, J ;
Ryssel, H .
THIN SOLID FILMS, 1998, 313 :259-263