Filtern
Erscheinungsjahr
- 2011 (6) (entfernen)
Dokumenttyp
Schlagworte
- Ellipsometry (2)
- Deformation (1)
- Ellipsometric encoding (1)
- Fabry-Perot layer stacks (1)
- Gas sensing (1)
- Gas sensor (1)
- Iron doped tin oxide (1)
- Layer thickness (1)
- Polymer (1)
- Product authentification (1)
In this work, thin iron doped tin oxide layers (3–6 nm) were investigated with regard to gas sensitivity by means of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect with ellipsometric readout. The experimental set-up was a Kretschmann configuration with gold as metal layer. The sensor system was exposed to different concentrations of methane in the low ppm range and the sensor response of an uncoated gold layer compared to a gold layer coated with iron doped tin oxide. The additional layer effects stability with regard to drift behavior of the sensor and an increase in sensitivity. Furthermore, the sensor is able to detect the toxic gas carbon monoxide in low concentration range (down to 0.5 ppm). The thin layers were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, secondary electron microscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The possible mechanisms taking place on the surface are discussed.
The thickness measurement of transparent layers with optical techniques is very problematic. The observed deviations can easily reach 100% of the layer thickness to be measured. In order to analyse these deviations, tactile reference measurements have been developed. The proposed method is based on contact mode measurements with low contact pressure. With stylus instruments, this can be realized either by using the recommended tip radius of 2 µm and very small probing forces in the micronewton range (and low scanning speeds of 50 µm s-1) or by using the recommended probing force of 750 µN, but a large probing tip radius. Three metal layers on silicon or silicon dioxide and two polymer resist materials on a thin chromium adhesive layer on silicon are used as artefacts. The comparison of the optical measurements with the tactile reference values disclosed deviations of the optical measurements of up to 195% of the layer thickness. Layer thicknesses were between 200 nm and 4 µm. This paper analyses the deviations of two white light interference microscopes, one phase shift interference microscope, one confocal microscope, one autofocus sensor, a chromatic sensor, an interferometric film thickness sensor and one spectroscopic ellipsometer. Simple and well-known expressions for the description of the observed deviations are presented and discussed. The order of magnitude of the observed deviations can be described well by these correction formulas but further investigations are necessary in order to better understand the systematic deviations of optical surface measuring instruments on non-cooperating surfaces.
An ellipsometric gas sensor based on the surface Plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of ~ 43 nm thick gold layers was investigated. To protect the gold layer from contamination and to improve the detection limits, the gold layers were top-coated with 5–6 nm thick layers of organic a-C:H or with inorganic metal oxides TiO2 or ZrO2. The additional layers increased the long-term stability, whereas the metal oxide layers protect better than a-C:H. Furthermore, the additional layers decreased the detection limits by one order of magnitude in case of a-C:H and two orders of magnitude in case of the oxides. It could be shown that the detection limits also depend on the kind of preparation (sol–gel process or physical vapour deposition) of the additional layers.