In Situ Photothermal Deflection Spectroscopy Revealing Intermolecular Interactions upon Self-Assembly of Dye Monolayers

Thin functional layers on surfaces or interfaces determine their function when integrated into systems and devices. Such functional layers are synthesized frequently via self-assembly of molecular monolayers (SAMs). To study...

Defect absorption in selenium films by photothermal deflection spectroscopy

Sub-gap absorption spectra of selenium films are investigated by photothermal deflection spectroscopy. The selenium films are prepared by vacuum evaporation of selenium pellets. Raman spectroscopy reveals that as-deposited films are amorphous, and the films annealed at 100 °C are trigonal crystal. Photothermal deflection spectroscopy is extended to infrared light of 0.31 eV with maintaining high sensitivity, and detects weak absorption at energies below the band gap. Five absorption peaks and tail absorption are observed in selenium films, and the absorption peak energies are 1.32, 1.08, 0.47, 0.41 and 0.34 eV, respectively. These absorption tail and peaks are derived from selenium, and the origin of these absorptions is explained based on the oxygen impurity and the defect structure of the selenium film.

Optical properties of the plasma hydrogenated ZnO thin films

We have optimized the deposition of the highly electrically resistive undoped (intrinsic) polycrystalline ZnO thin layers on fused silica substrates by the DC reactive magnetron sputtering of metallic zinc target in argonne/oxide atmosphere and we introduced the post-deposition hydrogen plasma doping. The thickness of thin film was evaluated by reflectance interferometry using the metallographic optical microscope fiber coupled to the CCD spectrometer operating in 400-1000 nm spectral range. The optical absorption was measured by photothermal deflection spectroscopy operating in 300-1600 nm spectral range. The change of the optical absorption edge and the increase of the infrared optical absorption was detected in hydrogenated ZnO. The increase of the infrared optical absorption goes with the increase of the electrical conductivity. We conclude that the plasma hydrogenation of the intrinsic ZnO thin films is related to increase of the free carrier concentration.