The surface chemistry of aluminum oxides plays a crucial role in the field of catalysis, corrosion and adhesion. Alumina (Al₂O₃) covered aluminum alloys are employed in the construction of lightweight automotive and aerospace parts. In order to protect these materials from environmental factors organic coatings are commonly used. In this context the adhesion between polymer and oxide surfaces is of outmost importance to improve the longevity of industrial parts. Using self-assembled adhesion promoting monolayers the complexity of surface pretreatment processes could be reduced tremendously. Long aliphatic phosphonic acids, such as octadecylphosphonic acid (ODPA), were found to be suitable for forming dense self-assembled monolayers on native oxide covered aluminum substrates. However in contrast to amorphous oxide films, single crystal surfaces provide a much more well-defined experimental and theoretical platform for studies on the adsorption mechanisms and the stability of organophosphonic acids.

In the presented study ^[1], adsorption, stability, and organization kinetics of organophosphonic acids on single-crystalline alumina surfaces were investigated by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based imaging, nanoshaving, and nanografting. The latter, nano-shaving and -grafting, are rather new techniques to study self-assembly processes. Since they were first reported ^[2] in 1997, atomic force microscopy based nanografting has been used as a tool to investigate the adsorption of organic monolayers mostly on noble metals, such as gold. ^[3] Moreover recent studies focused on influences of the confinement between AFM-tip and background monolayer on the adsorption of molecules during the grafting process. [about:blank#_ENREF_1]

AFM friction and phase imaging have shown that chemical etching and subsequent annealing led to heterogeneities on single-crystalline surfaces with (0001) orientation indicating differences in the local surface termination. These findings were supported by angle resolved X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (AR-XPS) measurements suggesting a partially hydroxide terminated surface. Self-assembly and stability of ODPA were shown to be strictly dependent upon the observed heterogeneities of the surface termination, where it was locally shown that ODPA can loosely or strongly bind on different terminations of the crystal surface. Furthermore, organization kinetics of ODPA was monitored with nanografting on (0001) surfaces. Supported by measurements of surface wettability and diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS), it was demonstrated that the lack of organization within the protective adsorbed hexylphosphonic acid (HPA) monolayer on alumina surfaces facilitated the reduced confinement effect during nanografting, such that kinetics information on the organization process of ODPA could be obtained.

[1] Torun, B. et al., Langmuir 2012, 28, (17), 6919-6927.

[2] Xu, S. et al., Langmuir 1997, 13, (2), 127-129.

[3] Yu, J. et al., Langmuir 2008, 24, (20), 11661-11668.

[4] Xu, S. et al., J. Amer. Chem. Society 1998, 120, (36), 9356-9361.

Despite the numerous structural studies of Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAMs) available nowadays, the structure and stability of the SAM-substrate interface is still poorly understood and controversial even for the most simple SAM system. As a consequence, the experimental and theoretical analysis of the bonding geometry and the stability of the molecule-substrate interface for technologically relevant, and therefore more complicated SAMs, is extremely difficult.

In this presentation we report extensive static secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) studies¹ on homologic series of thiols (BPnS, CH₃‑C₆H₄‑C₆H₄-(CH₂)_n-S-Au(111), n = 2-6) and selenols (BPnSe, CH₃‑C₆H₄‑C₆H₄-(CH₂)_n-Se-Au(111), n = 2-6) where structure and stability of molecule-substrate interface was systematically modified as verified by our previous experiments^2-5. Correlating SIMS data with previous microscopic², spectroscopic³ and very recent neutral mass spectrometry studies^4,5 we show that SIMS can be successfully applied to monitor fine changes in the molecule-substrate interface stability of these model SAMs. Further, to demonstrate general applicability of SIMS for such analysis, we report use of this method for monitoring influence of S versus Se substitution in purely aliphatic (heksadecanethiol/selenol) and aromatic (anthracenethiol/selenol) SAMs on Au(111). In summary our experiments show that a new approach for probing the stability of molecule-substrate interface in SAMs can be proposed by using SIMS. Importantly, this technique is relatively fast and can be applied for virtually all complicated and technologically relevant SAMs.

References

(1) J. Ossowski, P. J. Rysz, A. Terfort and P. Cyganik in preparation.

(2) P. Cyganik, K. Szelagowska-Kunstman, et al. J. Phys. Chem. C 2008, 112, 15466.

(3) K. Szelagowska-Kunstman, P. Cyganik, et al. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2010, 12, 4400.

(4) S. Wyczawska, P. Cyganik, A. Terfort, P. Lievens, ChemPhysChem (communication) 2011, 12, 2554.

(5) F. Vervaecke, S. Wyczawska, P. Cyganik, et al. ChemPhysChem (communication) 2011, 12, 140.

Wet chemical surface modification is a powerful method to change the chemical properties of surfaces. Although it has been used extensively, there are still many issues that limit a the applicability of these reactions. Substrate dip coating in aqueous solutions is particularly useful to facilitate both organic and inorganic layer functionalization. For instance, the bonding of phosphonic acid to silicon oxide is weak in water because the Si-O-P bond is easily hydrolyzed. We demonstrate here that this problem is alleviated by the addition of an ultra-thin aluminum oxide layer to the silicon oxide surface via dip-coating a silicon substrate in an aqueous solution of aluminum chloride. The growth kinetics of the aluminum oxide layer are characterized by several surface sensitive techniques and found to follow a Stranski-Krastanov mechanism. Once the aluminum oxide layer is in place, a self assembled monolayer (SAM) of octadecylphosphonic acid (ODPA) is attached by the “tethering by aggregation and growth” (T-BAG) method performed in a controlled environment. We demonstrate that this ODPA layer grafted on the aluminum oxide interlayer remains stable in water. We also show that, following the same wet chemical approach, we are able to attach aluminum hydroxyl directly on oxide-free silicon surfaces previously functionalized with 1/3 monolayer OH. [1] Finally, we show that our approach can easily be transferred to other metal oxides and discuss the most influencing parameters.

[1] Michalak, D. J.; Amy, S. R.; Aureau, D.; Dai, M.; Esteve, A.; Chabal, Y. J. Nat. Mater.2010, 9, 266-271.

With the ever increasing demand of thinner and better defined thin layer structures, good depth resolution becomes more and more critical in depth profiling techniques. Low Energy Ion Scattering (LEIS) is known as the most surface sensitive chemical analysis technique (see [1] for a review of LEIS technique). It is considerably less known that LEIS can also be applied for so called "static depth profiling" by interpreting the backgrounds on the low energy side of the LEIS peaks. The energy that the particles lose while travelling through the sample is a measure for the depth of the scattering atom, in a way similar to Rutherford Back Scattering (RBS) but for a much smaller depth range. New models have been developed to understand the process that gives rise to these backgrounds and that contains the information from layers below the surface up to depths of 10 nm. These models will be presented.

The models for this static depth profiling can be verified by dynamic (sputter) depth profiling. After each sputter step a full LEIS spectrum is recorded, which contains the surface information as well as the static depth profile at that point in the dynamic depth profile. In this way, the static depth profile can forecast the dynamic depth profile. This technique will be demonstrated for an Si/SiO₂/W/Al₂O₃ system.

LEIS is particularly suited for dynamic depth profiling. Since LEIS is so surface specific, the depth resolution is excellent, as long as the sputter conditions are chosen with care. Furthermore, LEIS can be quantified easily, in many cases - such as in depth profiles - without the use of references. However, any dynamic depth profile suffers from artifacts, such as preferential sputtering and ion beam mixing. By combining the dynamic depth profiling with static depth profiling there is an independent check on these artifacts. Furthermore, it will be shown how static depth profiling can give relevant information also at shallow depths where in a dynamic depth profile sputter equilibrium will not have been reached yet.

[1] H.H. Brongersma et al, Surf. Sci. Rep. 62 (2007)63

Gallium oxide (β-Ga₂O₃), which is a stable oxide of gallium, is a wide band gap material. The high melting point coupled with stable structure makes of β-Ga₂O₃ the best candidate for high temperature sensing. β-Ga₂O₃ thin films can be used for developing oxygen sensors operating at higher temperatures (≥ 900 ^oC). This feature opens the possibility of developing the integrated of β-Ga₂O₃ based oxygen sensors for power generation systems. The present work was performed on the analysis of growth behavior, microstructure, and optical properties of of β-Ga₂O₃ films grown by sputter deposition. Ga₂O₃ thin film were deposited on Si(100) and quartz substrate by varying the growth temperature from room temperature to 800 ^oC. The characteristic analysis of the samples was performed employing grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and spectrophotometry measurements. GIXRD analyses indicate that the samples grown at lower temperatures were amorphous while those grown at ≥ 400 ^oC. SEM results indicate that the morphology evolution is dependent on the temperature. The characteristic shape of the grains changed from triangular to square and finally to spherical morphology with increasing temperature. Optical characterization indicates that the band gap varies from 4.1 to 5.1 eV as a function of increasing temperature. The correlation between growth conditions, microstructure and band gap is established.

Tungsten oxide (WO₃) is a wide band gap semiconductor (~ 3.2 eV), which exhibits excellent physical, chemical and electronic properties. WO₃ thin films have been widely used in electrochromics and chemical sensors. Recently, the band gap modification with anionic and cationic doping of WO₃ was gained importance to utilize these materials in photo-catalysis for energy production and utilization. The present work was performed on nitrogen incorporated WO₃ (N-WO₃)films to explore the options to engineer the microstructure and electronic properties. Specifically, the effect of nitrogen incorporation and processing parameters on the microstructure evolution and band gap of WO₃ thin films is investigated. The samples were grown using reactive RF magnetron sputtering where the nitrogen concentration in the films is varied by varying partial pressure of nitrogen during deposition while keeping all other process parameters constant. Quantitative measurements employing X-ray photoemission spectroscopy indicate the nitrogen content increases with increasing nitrogen partial pressure. Structural analysis employing grazing incidence X-ray diffraction demonstrated that the nitrogen atoms embedded in WO₃ crystal matrix changes the crystal-texturing and thus induce changes in the physical properties. Optical spectrophotometry analysis on the N-WO₃ films revealed a shift in the fundamental absorption edge which is in linear relation with the corresponding nitrogen concentration. The correlation between microstructure, dopant profile, dielectric constant and band gap in WO₃ films will be presented and discussed.