TY - CONF A1 - Omar, Hassan A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Hertwig, Andreas A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Growth Kinetics and Molecular Mobility of the Adsorbed Layer of Poly(bisphenol-A Carbonate) (PBAC), Polysulfone (PSU), and Poly (2-Vinyl Pyridine) (P2VP) N2 - Interactions between a polymer and a substrate interface play a vital role in understanding the improvement in thin film material properties as well as serving as a model for nanocomposites. For any non-repulsive polymer-substrate interactions, polymer segments form an irreversibly adsorbed layer and show a slowdown in the glassy dynamics and thus an increase in the thermal glass transition temperature compared to the bulk-like values. The growth kinetics of the adsorbed layer showed a deviation for both poly (bisphenol-A carbonate) (PBAC) and polysulfone (PSU), two bulky polymers containing a functional group (phenyl ring) in the backbone, compared to conventional polymers previously studied like poly-2-vinyl pyridine (P2VP). This deviation was attributed to the bulkiness of the phenyl rings. . Further investigations into the influence of the adsorbed layer on glassy dynamics were conducted. The molecular mobility and glass transition for thin films of PBAC and PSU were compared to bulk samples of each polymer. Broadband dielectric spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and ellipsometry were primarily used and additionally supported by sum frequency generation spectroscopy. T2 - Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG) Tagung CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 17.03.2024 KW - Thin films KW - Adsorbed Layer KW - Atomic Force Microscopy KW - Ellipsometry KW - Dielectric Spectroscopy PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-59821 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Sachse, René A1 - Kotil, L. A1 - Matjacic, L. A1 - McMahon, G. A1 - Bernicke, M. A1 - Bernsmeier, D. A1 - Kraehnert, R. A1 - Hertwig, Andreas T1 - Morphological and chemical analysis of mesoporous mixed IrOx-TiOy thin films as electrode materials N2 - Porous films play an important role particularly in energy applications like photovoltaics, electrolysis or batteries. Thin film properties such as thickness, chemical composition, crystallinity of the framework, and porosity define the activity of the porous films. The accurate morpho-chemical characterisation of mesoporous thin films is a challenging analytical task which requires the consideration of new analytical approaches based on the combination of data of different methods able to address the structure and chemical composition at the nanoscale. In this contribution we characterise thin mesoporous iridium-titanium mixed oxide film properties by Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA) with Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) at an SEM applied in a dedicated “thin film analysis” approach (1). Thus, the film mass deposition, film thickness and the film density can be determined. Further, by dividing the measured film density to an assumed (theoretical) metal oxide framework (skeletal) density, the thin film porosity can be extracted, too. In order to assess the homogeneity of the thin film properties like the chemical composition, Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and Auger Electron Spectrometry are applied in the depth profiling mode, so that possible in-depth gradients are detected. Lateral inhomogeneities in the chemical composition and structure of the thin mesoporous films are also identified by applying the same methods in the line-scan or mapping mode, which can be further combined with in-depth sputtering for 3D information. The role of the spatial resolution of the analytical methods considered, which can go down well below 100 nm, will be highlighted. T2 - 2024 Spring Meeting of the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) CY - Strasbourg, France DA - 27.05.2024 KW - Mesoporous KW - Thin films KW - Iridium oxide KW - Titanium oxide KW - Thin film analysis KW - Porosity KW - SIMS KW - Auger electron spectroscopy PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60185 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bonse, Jörn A1 - Krüger, Jörg T1 - Structuring of thin films by ultrashort laser pulses JF - Applied physics A N2 - Modern life and global communication would not be possible without technologically tailored thin films; they are omnipresent in daily life applications. In most cases, the films are deposited entirely at the carrying substrates in a specific processing step of the device or sample. In some cases, however, removal or modification must be performed locally, i.e., site-controlled and material selective through an additional laser processing step. For that ultrashort laser pulses with durations in the femtosecond and picosecond range can provide unique advantages and capabilities in industrially scalable schemes. This article reviews the current state of the research and corresponding industrial transfer related to the structuring of thin films by ultrashort pulsed lasers. It focuses on the pertinent historic developments, reveals the relevant physical and chemical effects, explores the ultimate limits, and discusses selected industrial and scientific applications. KW - Thin films KW - Laser processing KW - Ultrashort lasers KW - Laser damage KW - Femtosecond laser ablation PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-565732 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-022-06229-x SN - 0947-8396 SN - 1432-0630 VL - 129 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 38 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-56573 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Terborg, R. A1 - Kim, K. J. A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Elemental composition and thickness determination of thin films by electron probe microanalysis JF - Surface and Interface Analysis N2 - Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) applies to solid samples of homogenous (bulk) chemical composition and can usually not be applied to structures which are inhomogeneous in the micrometer range such as thin film systems down to a few nm. However, in combination with the established thin film software Stratagem, the thickness as well as the elemental composition of thin films on a substrate can be determined. This has been recently successfully demonstrated for Fe-Ni on Si and Si-Ge on Al2O3 thin film systems. For both systems five samples of different elemental composition and a reference were produced and characterised by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), Rutherford backscattering (RBS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) as reference values. Last year, a new and open-source thin film evaluation programme called BadgerFilm has been released. It can also be used to determine thin film composition and thickness from intensity ratios of the unknown sample and standards (k-ratios). In this contribution, we reevaluated the data acquired for the Fe-Ni and Si-Ge systems using the BadgerFilm software package and compared the obtained elemental compositions and thickness values with the results of the Stratagem software and the reference methods. The conclusion is that the BadgerFilm software shows good agreement with the elemental composition and thickness calculated by Stratagem (mostly <2% for both composition and thickness) and with the reference values for two representative thin film systems (<1%–2% for composition and <10%–20% for thickness). KW - Elemental composition KW - EPMA KW - Film thickness KW - Thin films PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-576368 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/sia.7183 SN - 0142-2421 VL - 55 SP - 496 EP - 500 PB - Wiley AN - OPUS4-57636 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Omar, Hassan A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Hertwig, Andreas A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Growth Kinetics and Molecular Mobility of the adsorbed Layer of Poly(bisphenol-A Carbonate) (PBAC), Polysulfone (PSU), and Poly (2-Vinyl Pyridine) (P2VP) N2 - Interactions between a polymer and a substrate interface play a vital role in understanding the improvement in thin film material properties as well as serving as a model for nanocomposites. For any non-repulsive polymer-substrate interactions, polymer segments form an irreversibly adsorbed layer and show a slowdown in the glassy dynamics and thus an increase in the thermal glass transition temperature compared to the bulk-like values. The growth kinetics of the adsorbed layer obey a two-step mechanism: formation of immobilized layer with flat segmental conformations and a loosely bound layer with stretched chains pinned to the surface. Here the adsorbed layer was studied for: poly (bisphenol-A carbonate) (PBAC) and polysulfone (PSU), two bulky polymers containing a functional group (phenyl ring) in the backbone and compared to poly (2-vinyl pyridine) (P2VP), where the backbone is a vinyl-derivative and the functional group (pyridine) is in the side chain. The growth kinetics for PBAC and PSU were found to deviate from the well-known mechanism, observed for polymers such as P2VP. Atomic force microscopy and ellipsometry were used for this investigation and was additionally supported by broadband dielectric spectroscopy. T2 - Deutschen Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG) Tagung CY - Dresden, Germany DA - 26.03.2023 KW - Thin films KW - Adsorbed Layer KW - Broadband dielectric spectroscopy KW - Atomic force microscopy KW - Growth Kinetics PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57282 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Terborg, R. A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Kim, K.J. T1 - Determination of Thin Film Thickness and Composition using Energy Dispersive EPMA N2 - Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA)is a non-destructive technique which assumes a sample of homogenous (bulk) chemical composition and can, therefore, not be used for thin film samples. However, in combination with one of the possible thin film software packages, STRATAGEM, the thickness as well as the composition of such films on a substrate can be determined. This has been demonstrated for FeNi on Si and SiGe on Al2O3 film systems. For both systems five samples with different elemental composition and a reference were produced and characterised by the Korean research institute KRISS using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), Rutherford backscattering (RBS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In 2021, a new and open source thin film evaluation programme called BADGERFILM has been released. It can also be used to determine thin film composition and thickness from intensity ratios of the unknown sample and standards (k-ratios). In this contribution, we re-evaluated the data acquired for the FeNi and SiGe systems using the BADGERFILM software package and compared the resulting composition and thickness with the results of the established STRATAGEM software and other reference methods. With the current evaluation, the BADGERFILM software shows good agreement with the composition and thickness calculated by STRATAGEM and provided by the KRISS. These results between two well-known layered material systems analysed with available conventional EMPA approaches (STRATAGEM and direct thickness measurement by TEM) and a new one (BADGERFILM) proves that reliable non-destructive thin film analysis is possible. In this way, we validate the performance of the new software, which is not at all self-explanatory for such complex quantification algorithms lying behind the final quantified results. T2 - EMAS 2023 - 17th European Workshop on Modern Developments and Applications in Microbeam Analysis CY - Krakow, Poland DA - 07.05.2023 KW - Thin films KW - BADGER film KW - Electron probe microanallysis (EPMA) KW - FeNi thin film KW - Al2O3 thin films PY - 2023 UR - https://www.microbeamanalysis.eu/events/event/60-emas-2023-17th-european-workshop-on-modern-developments-and-applications-in-microbeam-analysis AN - OPUS4-57484 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Omar, Hassan A1 - Szymoniak, Paulina A1 - Hertwig, Andreas A1 - Schönhals, Andreas T1 - Probing Nanoscale Relaxation Behavior in Thin Polymer Films N2 - The investigations into the complicated effects of film thickness on bulk properties of thin polymer films has yielded conflicting results. The reduction in molecular mobility, and with it an increase in the glass transition temperature, for thin films of poly (bisphenol A carbonate) (PBAC) was assigned to the formation of an adsorbed layer. The adsorbed layer was obtained by washing away the loosely bounded chains using a good solvent. Next, using atomic force microscopy (AFM), the thickness of each sample was measured after annealing for various times at three different annealing temperatures. The growth of this adsorbed layer was shown to deviate from the previously reported 2-step mechanism seen for other polymers. For PBAC, after very long annealing times at high temperatures the thin films were dewetted, where segments of the adsorbed layer were removed from the substrate. T2 - Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Poster CY - Online meeting DA - 28.02.2023 KW - Thin films KW - Adsorbed Layer KW - Broadband dielectric spectroscopy KW - Atomic force microscopy KW - Growth Kinetics PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-57196 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Advanced Characterization of the Surface Morphology and Chemistry within nano@BAM N2 - Both essential aspects of the surface of solid matter, its morphology and chemistry, are studied traditionally at BAM starting in the 60’s with different cyclical research focus areas, mostly related either to applicative research or method development. In the recent years, the focus has shifted almost exclusively to the nano-analytics of advanced materials such as complex nanoparticles, (ultra)thin films/coatings, nanocomposites, 2D materials, energy materials, etc. This is also the reason why BAM has established recently the new Competence Center nano@BAM (www.bam.de/Navigation/DE/Themen/Material/Nanotechnologie/sichere-nanomaterialien.html) with the five sub-fields nanoCharacterisation, nanoMaterial, nanoSafety, nanoData and nanoTechnology. The link to the BAM central guidelines to the safety in technology and chemistry is given by the development of reference products such as reference measurement procedures, reference (nano)materials, and newly reference data sets. Thus, an internationally well-networked group in surface analysis has been established @BAM, with regular contributions to integral analytical characterization with metrological and standardization background. Examples of newly developed methodical approaches will be given with an emphasis on correlative nano-analysis of morphology and chemistry of nanomaterials. Correlative imaging by STEM-in-SEM with high-resolution SEM and EDX, and further with AFM or the new technique TKD (Transmission Kikuchi Diffraction) will be explained on various examples of nanostructures, both as starting materials and embedded/functionalized nanoparticles in products. The unique analytical benefits of the Auger electron probe as a veritable nano-tool for surface chemistry will be highlighted. The panoply of advanced surface characterization methods @BAM is completed by discussing examples of hybrid analysis of the bulk of nanomaterials by X-ray Spectroscopy with the highest surface-sensitive methods X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). Particularly for the analysis of the surface chemistry of nanostructures, such as the completeness of the shells of core-shell nanoparticles or in-depth and lateral gradients of chemistry within mesoporous thin layers, the latter methods are inherent. Other special developments like approaches for the quantitative determination of the roughness of particle surface by electron microscopy or for the quantitative determination of the porosity of thin mesoporous layers by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) with SEM will be presented. T2 - Seminar of the Academic Centre for Materials and Nanotechnology CY - Online meeting DA - 12.05.2022 KW - Nanoparticles KW - Thin films KW - Nano Characterisation KW - Nanomaterials KW - Surface morphology KW - Surface chemistry PY - 2022 UR - https://www.agh.edu.pl/en/info/article/seminar-advanced-characterization-of-the-surface-morphology-and-chemistry-within-nanobam/ AN - OPUS4-54820 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Liaison report from VAMAS with ISO/TC 202 Microbeam Analysis N2 - The progress in the activities on Microbeam Analysis under VAMAS/TWA 37 is reviewed. Particularly the liaison with the new projects within the ISO technical committee TC 202 is presented and discussed with respect to the possibility of identifying and launching related VAMAS projects/inter-laboratory comparisons. The recently started project FIB sample processing for TEM is presented. Next projects in the pipeline involving EBSD and TKD are shortly announced. The need of more promotion for the engagement of more experts from industry and academia at national, European and international level is highlighted. Also, the competition with the other technical working areas (on 'nano' or materials-related) is critically discussed. T2 - 29th Annual Meeting of ISO/TC 202 Microbeam Analysis CY - Online meeting DA - 28.11.2022 KW - VAMAS KW - ISO/TC 202 KW - Microbeam Analysis KW - EBSD KW - Electron microscopy KW - Thin films PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-56424 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Terborg, R. A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Kim, K. J. T1 - Determination of Thin Film Thickness and Composition using Energy Dispersive EPMA N2 - Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA) provides a non-destructive approach in the dedicated thin film analysis mode with the commercial StrataGem software. Recently, the open-source programme BadgerFilm by Moy and Fournelle became available. Similarly to StrataGem, it is based on the algorithm of Pouchou and Pichoir and needs intensity ratios of the unknown sample and standards (k-values). We have evaluated the k-values measured for the FeNi and SiGe film systems using the BadgerFilm software package and compared the thickness and composition with the results obtained with the established StrataGem software and other reference methods. The thicknesses of the SiGe films obtained by the BadgerFilm software agree within 20% with the StrataGem and TEM results; the elemental compositions BadgerFilm-StrataGEM agree within 2% with one exception (9%). T2 - Microscopy and Microanalysis 2022 CY - Portland, OR, USA DA - 31.07.2022 KW - Thin films KW - Thickness KW - Elemental composition KW - FeNi KW - SiGe KW - BadgerFilm KW - Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA) PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-55522 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -