Spectroscopic Ellipsometry for Functional Nano-Layers of Flexible Organic Electronic Devices

Abstract

Flexible organic electronic devices (FEDs) will significantly improve and revolutionize several aspects our everyday life. During the last years, there are numerous advances in organic (semiconducting, conducting and insulating), inorganic and hybrid (organic–inorganic) materials that exhibit customized properties and stability, and in the synthesis and preparation methods, which are characterized by a significant amount of multidisciplinarity. The understanding of the optical and electrical properties of these materials as well as their growth mechanisms can improve the functionality and promote the performance of flexible organic electronic devices. Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (SE) is a powerful technique that can be implemented in-situ and ex-situ for the measurement and analysis of the optical response of a wide variety of materials. In this chapter, we will describe briefly some of the advances towards the implementation of SE for the study of state-of-the-art materials (flexible polymer substrates, barrier layers, transparent electrodes) for flexible organic electronics applications.