Laboratorium Badań Warstw Molekularnych

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer

Fourier Transform Infrared spectrophotometer Vertex 80 V (Bruker Inc., USA) enables measurements of IR spectra under low pressure. Working under pressure which do not exceed 10 mbar results in strong decrease of the concentration of gases which disturb IR measurements. The most important agents which negative influence IR spectra are: water vapor and carbon dioxide. Spectrometer enables following types of measurements:

• absorption in KBr pellets, in liquids or in the case of drop-coated layer deposited on material non-absorbing in IR (adjustable angle of incidence);
• Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) – spectrometer is equipped with Platinum ATR (Bruker);
• Multiple-reflection Attenuated Total Reflectance (multi-ATR)– spectrometer is equipped with A537-A/Q Overhead ATR unit (Bruker);
• Specular Reflectance with adjustable angle of incidence – spectrometer is equipped with specular reflectance accessory GS19650 (SPECAC, UK);
• Polarization Modulation Infrared Reflection Absorption Spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS) – spectrometer is equipped with PMA50 module (Bruker).

Spectroscopic Ellipsometer

Spectroscopic Ellipsometer UVISEL (Horriba-Jobin Yvon, Japan-France) enables measurements of thin films in spectral range from 245 nm to 2100 nm. Following types of information can be obtained from ellipsometric study:

• ellipsometric spectra: measurements of ellipsometric parameters as a function of wavelength (photon energy);
• kinetic studies: measurement of ellipsometric parameters as a function of time for chosen wavelength;
• standard transmission (absorbance) or reflectance spectra in single-beam configuration.

Software DeltaPsi 2 (Horriba-Jobin Yvon) enables the analysis of measured data on two levels, in particular: either with application of tables with values of optical constants (complex refractive index) or advanced option, it means with application of analytical function as a model of complex dielectric function (complex refractive index). Ellipsometer is also equipped with motorized stage which makes possible the movement of the sample with step equal to 1 µm or larger.

Brewster Angle Microscope and Langmuir-Blodgett Tough

Brewster Angle Microscope EP3-BAM (NFT – Nanofilm Technologie, Germany) enables thin film imaging with application of specular reflectance in visible (VIS) spectral range. The laser line λ = 532 nm is used as a light source. The irradiation / observation is performed under Brewster Angle with respect to the substrate. It results in minimization of reflection from the substrate. Spatial resolution of the microscope is equal to 2 µm.

Langmuir-Blodgett Tough BAM 601 (Nima Technology Ltd., UK), conjugated with Brewster Angle Microscope, enables study of the processes occurring during compression of the molecules places on the surface of liquid sub-phase. In standard case water is used as a sub-phase. LB Tough is used to determine thermodynamic parameters describing the compression process. Surface tension and potential are measured simultaneously with surface tension detector PS-4 (Nima Technology Ltd., UK) and surface potential detector 320C-H-CE (Trek Inc., USA), respectively. Conjugation of LB Tough and Brewster Angle Microscope enables imaging the temporal behavior of molecules deposited on the surface of liquid sub-phase during the whole process of molecular layer building. Another application of Langmuir-Blodgett Tough is the deposition of mono- or multi-layer on the surface of solid substrate, i.e. glass. The deposition is done with application of dipper D1L (Nima Technology Ltd., UK).