Responsive polymer systems designed by using polymer brushes or hydrogels are interesting systems, which can exhibit reversible or irreversible changes in their physical and structural properties to special environmental conditions (e.g. temperature or magnetic fields). The temperature responsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNiPAAm) is one of such polymers. It undergoes a phase transition in aqueous solution at its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of 32 °C which induces an increase in hydrophobicity. Combined with the properties of magnetic nanoparticles (NP) (e.g. Fe₃O₄ or CoFe₂O₄) these systems can lead to new surface functionalities with new interesting properties for many applications, as sensing, wettability or (bio)adhesion.

For the design of such thin film systems a basic knowledge of the film characteristics is essential. Therefore it is first necessary to know how much nanoparticles are inside or attached to the system. By using spectroscopic Vis-Ellipsometry (SE) it is not only possible to investigate optical properties of these films but also the composition of it, e.g. volume fraction of Fe₃O₄-NP.

We studied two types of films and present results for a thin NP-composite film prepared by pre-mixing of the PNiPAAm with hydrophobic Fe₃O₄-NP, spin-coated and grafted to a silicon substrate (System 1) and a film prepared by adsorption of hydrophilic functionalized Fe₃O₄-NP onto PNiPAAm brushes (System 2). The former system was chosen to develop an optical model starting from a simple two component effective-medium-approach (Maxwell-Garnett-EMA) using the optical constants of the pure polymer measured by SE and of Fe₃O₄ with averaged data taken from three different publications. The SE best fit-results were validated against scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).

After transferring this optical model to System 2, the adsorption of hydrophilic functionalized Fe₃O₄-NP onto PNiPAAm brushes was investigated and will be discussed with additional results obtained from contact angle (CA) and phase transition (LCST) measurements.

Recent improvements in nanofabrication strategies have led to the development of precisely crafted nanostructures with intricate features. Incorporating biomolecules such as proteins, DNA, drugs, and even whole cells could allow for functionalization of nanostructured surfaces for biological applications including biosensing, tissue engineering scaffolds, and drug and gene delivery. Along with the nanofabrication of biological devices, there is a need to develop instrumentation capable of probing and characterizing the dynamic evolution of these bio-functionalized interfaces. Spectroscopic ellipsometry combined with quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (SE/QCM-D) is a non-destructive optical/mechanical characterization technique that reveals dynamic properties, including average film thickness (with sub-angstrom resolution), adsorbed mass, and porosity.

Nanostructures in the form of sculptured thin films (STF) were fabricated by glancing angle deposition via electron beam evaporation of titanium onto gold-coated quartz sensors. The sensors were then mounted within an SE/QCM-D liquid cell, and proteins of varying sizes were deposited and characterized, in-situ. Protein adsorption was detected shortly after introducing the protein solutions by SE and QCM-D as a change in the optical response and decrease of vibration frequency, respectively. QCM-D reported greater adsorbed mass for larger proteins (fibronectin) than smaller proteins (bovine serum albumin). The adsorbed mass of proteins within the nanostructured scaffold exceeded that of proteins on flat surfaces, confirming that the STFs are capable of trapping proteins. Analysis of the anisotropic optical response from the nanostructures, which is very sensitive to environmental changes, adds complementary information on protein adsorption; the optical quantification is in agreement with QCM-D results. In addition, the adsorption of other biomolecules, such as cells and DNA complexes, has also been accomplished. The use of combinatorial SE/QCM-D to characterize and monitor the attachment of biomolecules on complex nanotopographies will improve the design and fabrication strategies for a wide array of biotechnological devices.

Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography using 13.5 nm light is emerging as a viable tool for semiconductor fabrication at design rules below 32 nm. Tool performance critically depends on limiting and mitigating degradation of the EUV optical elements. A primary degradation mechanism is the EUV induced deposition of carbon from ambient species originating from outgassing of the unbaked vacuum system and/or outgassing from the EUV irradiation of the resist. Using the high brightness of the Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility (SURF-III) at NIST both fundamental studies of EUV induced contamination and practical (“witness plate”) studies of resist out gassing are performed. Typical deposits are hydrogenated amorphous carbon features with peak thicknesses of about 1 nm and nominal lateral extent of 1 mm. Both ex-situ, small spot mapping spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and in situ single-wavelength imaging nulling-ellipsometry are used for rapid, sensitive, contamination metrology. Fundamental studies of contamination by admitted gases indicate that the process is a complex function of both gas pressure and photon dose. Correlations between SE and XPS are suggestive that, at high EUV fluxes, densification can occur resulting in spatial variation in the deposit dielectric function. The use of principal component analysis of the SE images to highlight the spatial diversity will be discussed.

Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (S.E) is a well known optical technique widely used for the characterisation of all types of thin films for determination of film thickness and optical indices on glass or plastic substrates.

S.E. is also being applied to the characterization of materials and multilayer structures of organic materials like organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) or Organic Solar Cells.

We present the determination of the refractive indices of organic Solar Cells materials like P3HT, PCBM, Pentacene, Perylene, and their blends. Complex organic materials can be analyzed accurately and fully characterized from their absorption bands in the visible and UV range (190nm to 900nm).

Transmission and absorption can be also measured at the same time and be used to determine the optical properties of these materials.

Using these refractive indices, analysis of real multi-layer stacks can be done. The refractive indices can be used afterwards to automatically optimise and balance the energy flow dissipation Q inside an organic solar cell composed of a thin film stack. We present an example performed on a single cell and on a tandem bi-layer cell structure.

Since these materials are sensitive to moisture and pollution, it can be necessary to measure their optical properties and thickness values through an encapsulated media. We will demonstrate how we can measure single layer properties and multi-layer stacks, through encapsulated samples, from the back side of the substrate. This technique can be applied to test structure or real Organic Solar Cell monitoring. Backside measurement combined with a water vapour cell used for ellipsometry porosimetry is used to test the efficiency of the thin film encapsulation.

We also present the characterization of ITO and ZnO transparent electrodes by S.E. and how near infra-red ellipsometry is used to determine the ITO resistance, without contact, by using the Drude behaviour on encapsulated samples.