Abstract
We investigate the evolution of copper phthalocyanine thin films as they are etched with argon plasma. Significant morphological changes occur as a result of the ion bombardment; a planar surface quickly becomes an array of nanopillars which are less than 20 nm in diameter. The changes in morphology are independent of plasma power, which controls the etch rate only. Analysis by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that surface concentrations of copper and oxygen increase with etch time, while carbon and nitrogen are depleted. Despite these changes in surface stoichiometry, we observe no effect on the work function. The absorbance and X-ray diffraction spectra show no changes other than the peaks diminishing with etch time. These findings have important implications for organic photovoltaic devices which seek nanopillar thin films of metal phthalocyanine materials as an optimal structure.
Highlights
Ion sputtering is often employed by surface analysis techniques, such as auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and sary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), to generate depth profiles of multilayer films
The limits imposed on depth profiling by the effects of ion sputtering on surface topography have been studied thoroughly for many metal and Molecules 2012, 17 semiconductor thin films [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
This paper investigates the evolution of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) and zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) thin films as they are etched with argon and oxygen plasmas
Summary
Ion sputtering is often employed by surface analysis techniques, such as auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and sary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), to generate depth profiles of multilayer films. The limits imposed on depth profiling by the effects of ion sputtering on surface topography have been studied thoroughly for many metal and Molecules 2012, 17 semiconductor thin films [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. Significant morphological changes occur as a result of the ion bombardment: A planar surface becomes an array of nanopillars with sub-20 nm diameters. This result is intriguing from an organic photovoltaic perspective, where nanopillar film morphologies are desired whose pillar diameters closely match the short exciton diffusion lengths of around 15 nm seen in organic materials [21]. The results presented in this paper exhibit similar behavior, enabling a new approach to nanostructuring MPc thin films
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