scholarly journals Stokes-polarimetry of ultrathin Au and Sn island films

Author(s):  
A. Yampolskiy ◽  
O. Makarenko ◽  
V. Lendel ◽  
V. Prorok ◽  
A. Sharapa ◽  
...  

The optical properties of ultrathin Au and Sn islet films, obtained by the methods of magnetron sputtering and thermal evaporation, respectively, are considered in this paper. By measuring the Stokes vector of the beam reflected from the samples, polarized and depolarized radiation components were separated. The conditions of the polarization degree dependence on the surface structure for a series of islet films with different morphologies are analyzed. To determine the morphological structure of the metal layer, methods of atomic force microscopy and resistivity measurement were also employed. The parameters of discontinuous film, obtained by optical and non-optical methods, are compared. It is established that with an increase in the angle of radiation incidence onto the samples, the polarization degree of the reflected beam decreases. Such behavior can be explained by the Mie theory of light scattering by particles. The magnitude of depolarizing action of the samples also depends on the morphology of their surface, correlating with the number of inequalities on it. The applied method of Stokes polarimetry, thus, allows one to obtain additional information on the structure of the surface, which is its advantage.

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 1671-1679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Moosmann ◽  
Thomas Schimmel ◽  
Wilhelm Barthlott ◽  
Matthias Mail

Underwater air retention of superhydrophobic hierarchically structured surfaces is of increasing interest for technical applications. Persistent air layers (the Salvinia effect) are known from biological species, for example, the floating fern Salvinia or the backswimmer Notonecta. The use of this concept opens up new possibilities for biomimetic technical applications in the fields of drag reduction, antifouling, anticorrosion and under water sensing. Current knowledge regarding the shape of the air–water interface is insufficient, although it plays a crucial role with regards to stability in terms of diffusion and dynamic conditions. Optical methods for imaging the interface have been limited to the micrometer regime. In this work, we utilized a nondynamic and nondestructive atomic force microscopy (AFM) method to image the interface of submerged superhydrophobic structures with nanometer resolution. Up to now, only the interfaces of nanobubbles (acting almost like solids) have been characterized by AFM at these dimensions. In this study, we show for the first time that it is possible to image the air–water interface of submerged hierarchically structured (micro-pillars) surfaces by AFM in contact mode. By scanning with zero resulting force applied, we were able to determine the shape of the interface and thereby the depth of the water penetrating into the underlying structures. This approach is complemented by a second method: the interface was scanned with different applied force loads and the height for zero force was determined by linear regression. These methods open new possibilities for the investigation of air-retaining surfaces, specifically in terms of measuring contact area and in comparing different coatings, and thus will lead to the development of new applications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 1636-1647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenting Wang ◽  
Chengfu Ma ◽  
Yuhang Chen ◽  
Lei Zheng ◽  
Huarong Liu ◽  
...  

Subsurface imaging of Au circuit structures embedded in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) thin films with a cover thickness ranging from 52 to 653 nm was carried out by using contact resonance atomic force microscopy (CR-AFM). The mechanical difference of the embedded metal layer leads to an obvious CR-AFM frequency shift and therefore its unambiguous differentiation from the polymer matrix. The contact stiffness contrast, determined from the tracked frequency images, was employed for quantitative evaluation. The influence of various parameter settings and sample properties was systematically investigated by combining experimental results with theoretical analysis from finite element simulations. The results show that imaging with a softer cantilever and a lower eigenmode will improve the subsurface contrast. The experimental results and theoretical calculations provide a guide to optimizing parameter settings for the nondestructive diagnosis of flexible circuits. Defect detection of the embedded circuit pattern was also carried out, which indicates the capability of imaging tiny subsurface structures smaller than 100 nm by using CR-AFM.


2004 ◽  
Vol 186 (11) ◽  
pp. 3286-3295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Touhami ◽  
Manfred H. Jericho ◽  
Terry J. Beveridge

ABSTRACT The growth and division of Staphylococcus aureus was monitored by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and thin-section transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A good correlation of the structural events of division was found using the two microscopies, and AFM was able to provide new additional information. AFM was performed under water, ensuring that all structures were in the hydrated condition. Sequential images on the same structure revealed progressive changes to surfaces, suggesting the cells were growing while images were being taken. Using AFM small depressions were seen around the septal annulus at the onset of division that could be attributed to so-called murosomes (Giesbrecht et al., Arch. Microbiol. 141:315-324, 1985). The new cell wall formed from the cross wall (i.e., completed septum) after cell separation and possessed concentric surface rings and a central depression; these structures could be correlated to a midline of reactive material in the developing septum that was seen by TEM. The older wall, that which was not derived from a newly formed cross wall, was partitioned into two different surface zones, smooth and gel-like zones, with different adhesive properties that could be attributed to cell wall turnover. The new and old wall topographies are equated to possible peptidoglycan arrangements, but no conclusion can be made regarding the planar or scaffolding models.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolay A. Barinov ◽  
Elizaveta R. Pavlova ◽  
Anna P. Tolstova ◽  
Evgeniy V. Dubrovin ◽  
Dmitry V. Klinov

Fibrinogen is a major protein of blood coagulation system and is a promising component of biomaterials and protein matrixes. Conformational changes of fibrinogen underlie the important mechanism of thrombin mediated fibrinogen clotting but also may induce the loss of its biological activity and (amyloid) aggregation. Understanding and controlling of fibrinogen unfolding is important for the development of fibrinogen based materials with tunable properties. We have discovered that myeloperoxidase induces denaturation of fibrinogen molecules followed by fibrinogen clotting, which is not thrombin-dependent. This is the first example of ATP-independent, non-targeted protein-induced protein denaturation. The morphological structure of unfolded fibrinogen molecules and "non-conventional" fibrinogen clots has been characterized using high-resolution atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy techniques. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy has shown no significant changes of the secondary structure of the fibrinogen clots. The absorbance spectrophotometry has demonstrated that the kinetics of myeloperoxidase induced fibrinogen clotting strongly decays with growth of ionic strength indicating a major role of the Debye screening effect in regulating of this process. The obtained results provide with the novel concepts of protein unfolding and open new insights into fibrinogen clotting. Moreover, they give new possibilities in biotechnological and biomedical applications, e.g., for regulation of fibrinogen clotting and platelet adhesion and for the development of fibrinogen-based matrices.


2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 22-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan B. Kaemmer ◽  
Ton Ruiter ◽  
Bede Pittenger

Both atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Raman spectroscopy are techniques used to gather information about the surface properties of a sample. There are many reasons to combine these two technologies, and this article looks both at the complementary information gained from the techniques and how a researcher having access to a combined system can benefit from the additional information available.


2000 ◽  
Vol 648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgan E. Ware ◽  
Robert J. Nemanich

AbstractThe 4% lattice mismatch between Si and Ge creates strain in epitaxial layers of SiGe alloys on Si, and this strain can manifest itself in the morphological structure of the surface of the epitaxial layer. This study explores the relationship of the evolution of the surface morphology of SiGe layers grown on a range of Si surface orientations. We have grown thin, strained and thick, relaxed layers of Si0.7Ge0.3 by solid source molecular beam epitaxy on substrates with surface normals rotated from [001] towards [111] by angles of θ = (0, 2, 4, 10, 22) degrees. The surface morphology was investigated by atomic force microscopy, which showed considerable ordering of surface features on relaxed samples. These features evolve from hut-like structures at 0 degrees to large mesa-like structures separated by pits and crevices at 22 degrees. The organization of these features is also shown to vary with the substrate orientation. Each surface has characteristic directions along which features are aligned, and these directions vary continuously with the angle of rotation of the substrate. Transmission electron microscopy confirmed that misfit dislocations had formed along those same directions. The state of relaxation of each layer is quantified by Raman spectroscopy in order to make a direct correlation between residual strain and surface morphology.


1994 ◽  
Vol 337 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Bellard ◽  
J.M. Themlin ◽  
F. Palmino ◽  
A. Cros

ABSTRACTWe have investigated the microscopic properties of copper and chromium layers deposited on polyphenylquinoxaline (PPQ). PPQ is a thermostable polymer used for multichip module applications. The metal is deposited under ultra-high vacuum conditions and analysed in-situ by X-ray photoemission (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (ex situ). Copper does not react significantly with the PPQ and tends to diffuse into the polymer matrix upon annealing. On the contrary, chromium strongly reacts with the polymer surface at room temperature. With increasing metal coverage, chromium grows in a layer-by-layer mode and the reacted interface is progressively burried under the pure metal layer.


2002 ◽  
Vol 736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mihir A. Oka ◽  
Stephen S. Hardaker ◽  
Farzad Nazir ◽  
Richard V. Gregory ◽  
Keith R. Brenneman ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTPoly(3,4-ethlyenedioxythiophene), PEDOT, has found wide use in applications such as electrostatic coatings, antistatic layers and electrode materials in electronic devices. Electrochemical deposition of PEDOT is a prominent means of obtaining thin, uniform films. However, the relationship of these films' properties to their morphological structure is still poorly understood. We have prepared PEDOT films by electrochemical oxidation of monomer (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), EDOT, under constant current conditions, employing a variety of electrolytes, and processing conditions. We report the effect of using different dopants, deposition time, deposition temperature and current density on the observed conductivity of PEDOT films. Atomic force microscopy studies were carried out to determine the possible effect of the process variables on the resulting film morphology. Also, the effect of residual solvent on the conductivity of the films was studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Cowie ◽  
Rikke Plougmann ◽  
Yacine Benkirane ◽  
Léonard Schué ◽  
Zeno Schumacher ◽  
...  

Abstract Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have attracted significant attention for optoelectronic, photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical applications. The properties of TMDCs are highly dependent on the number of stacked atomic layers, which is usually counted post-fabrication, using a combination of optical methods and atomic force microscopy height measurements. Here, we use photoluminescence spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and three different AFM methods to demonstrate significant discrepancies in height measurements of exfoliated MoSe2 flakes on SiO2 depending on the method used. We also highlight the often overlooked effect that electrostatic forces can be misleading when measuring the height of a MoSe2 flake using AFM.


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