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Traceable thickness determination of organic nanolayers by X‐ray reflectometry
Author(s) -
Wernecke Jan,
Shard Alexander G.,
Krumrey Michael
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.5371
Subject(s) - reflectometry , wafer , beryllium , optics , materials science , monolayer , synchrotron radiation , silicon , photon energy , analytical chemistry (journal) , photon , layer (electronics) , bilayer , synchrotron , nanometre , chemistry , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , time domain , biochemistry , physics , organic chemistry , chromatography , membrane , computer science , computer vision
While several methods are available for layer thickness determination in the nanometer range, very few of them are suited for absolute measurements that can be traced to the SI units. Layer thickness determination from the oscillations that are observed in X‐ray reflectometry for metallic layers or oxides is well established, but the low density of most organic materials results in low contrast and thus weak oscillations. However, by using synchrotron radiation instead of X‐ray tubes, any photon energy can be selected, also in the range below 2 keV, to enhance the contrast significantly. The organic layers systems investigated here are Irganox 1010 and Fmoc‐pentafluoro‐L‐phenylalanine layers with nominal thicknesses between 20 and 100 nm, deposited on silicon wafers with a nominal 20 nm SiO 2 layer. The measurements were performed at a photon energy of 1841 eV close to the Si K‐absorption edge. Pronounced oscillations with different periodicities were observed for all investigated systems. After determination of the critical angle, the measured reflectance is divided by the Fresnel reflectance. A Fourier transform of the remaining signal results in the power spectral density. The peaks in the spectra correspond to the thicknesses of individual layers or groups of layers. These organic bilayer systems can be clearly distinguished from monolayers and, with some knowledge on the sample structure, the individual layer thicknesses are obtained with low uncertainties. This enables the development of reference materials with certified thickness of organic layers. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.