Compositional and structural characterization has been undertaken for self-assembled thin films of metal-organic coordinated multilayers. These films were fabricated by alternating solution-phase deposition and were composed of a,?-mercaptoalkanoic acid and copper ions. Our study has investigated film thicknesses up to 30 layers using Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE), Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS), and Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM). RBS and PIXE studies determined average layer density, copper concentration, and the copper-to-molecule ratio within the films. SPM investigations reveal discontinuous film growth in the initial few layers prior to a surface morphology transition, but this does not result in a significant increase of overall surface roughness for subsequent layers. The film roughness was determined by two different methods, each yielding comparable results. However, the more rigorously mathematical treatment of the data, examining roughness as a function of area, revealed significant deviations in these films with regards to short or long range roughness. Additional research is underway to inspect the stability of the multilayers and the changes they undergo upon the addition of thermal energy.

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of metal-organic coordinated multilayer films

245th National Meeting (2013)

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