Skip to main content
Article
Grating-Coupler Assisted Infrared Reflection Absorption Spectroscopy for the Characterization of Organic Thin Films
Analytical Chemistry
  • Bipin K. Singh, Iowa State University
  • Andrew C. Hillier, Iowa State University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2006
DOI
10.1021/ac061191c
Abstract

We demonstrate how grating-coupler assisted infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy can be used to simultaneously determine the chemical identity and relative thickness of organic thin films. With a grating substrate, a threshold anomaly associated with passing off of the −1 diffracted order occurs at grazing angles of incidence, resulting in a sharp absorbance in the infrared. The position of this peak is sensitive to the grating geometry as well as the dielectric environment near its surface. Thus, shifts in the peak position can be used to determine the relative thickness of adsorbed films or quantify molecular adsorption events. To illustrate the characteristics and sensitivity of this phenomenon, several samples were prepared and tested, including self-assembled alkanethiolate monolayers with 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid, 11-mercapto-1-undecanol, decanethiol, and a covalently linked layer of bovine serum albumin on a commercial, gold-coated grating. For these samples, the position of the threshold absorbance peak shifted to lower wavenumbers as film thickness increased, which is consistent with calculated shifts based upon an increasing refractive index at the interface. The sensitivity of this shift was measured to be 3.7 cm-1 nm-1. These results illustrate how a grating substrate can be exploited in a standard infrared reflectance measurement to provide additional information about the relative thickness of adsorbed surface films.

Comments

This article is from Analytical Chemistry78 (2006): 7335-7340, doi:10.1021/ac061191c. Posted with permission.

Copyright Owner
American Chemical Society
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Bipin K. Singh and Andrew C. Hillier. "Grating-Coupler Assisted Infrared Reflection Absorption Spectroscopy for the Characterization of Organic Thin Films" Analytical Chemistry Vol. 78 Iss. 20 (2006) p. 7335 - 7340
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/andrew_hillier/32/