Unoccupied electronic states of ultrathin phenolphthalein films on the ZnO surface formed by atomic layer deposition

Abstract

The results of a study of the unoccupied electronic states of ultrathin films of phenolphthalein molecules on a ZnO surface formed by atomic layer deposition technique are presented. The atomic composition of the ZnO layer was determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and its crystallinity was characterized using X-ray diffraction. The predominance of the content of O atoms by 5-10%, compared with the content of Zn atoms, was found. The electronic characteristics of the ZnO/phenolphthalein structure were studied using total current spectroscopy (TCS) in the energy range from 5 eV to 20 eV above EF during thermal vacuum deposition of phenolphthalein films up to 8 nm thick. Phenolphthalein molecules contain two hydroxyl functional groups. The TCS results on the phenolphthalein films are compared with the TCS results obtained from films of molecules that represent the backbone of phenolphthalein molecules without hydroxyl groups. The TCS fine structure maxima of phenolphthalein films located in the energy range from 5 eV to 8 eV above EF can be associated with the boundaries of the π* bands of electronic states. The work function of the ZnO surface formed by the ALD method were 4.2±0.1 eV. The deposition of a phenolphthalein film led to a decrease in the work function of the surface by 0.1 eV. Keywords: Phenolphthalein, ultrathin films, ZnO, atomic layer deposition, electronic properties, low-energy electron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.