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The progress of organic electronics demands an increased participation of nanotechnology, and it has already been shown that the presence of metallic nanoparticles and/or nanostructured thin films can enhance the device performance. Nevertheless, to gain control over the device final performance, it is crucial to achieve a profound understanding of the nanostructure development and assembly. We investigate the growth kinetics of silver (Ag) on a tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminum (Alq3) thin film via sputter deposition. The increase of the average electron density of the Ag nanostructured film is observed to follow a sigmoidal shape development as a function of the deposited Ag thickness, as a consequence of dominant island-mediated growth. The nanoclustered film is percolated at around a thickness of 5.0 ± 0.1 nm. At this film thickness the effective film density is about 50%. Moreover, our simulation results indicate that the shape of the nanoclusters changes from truncated spheres to cylinders upon sur...

I. Tanarro et al. -- 16 pags., 18 figs., app., We present a proof of concept on the coupling of radio astronomical receivers and spectrometers with chemical reactors and the performances of the resulting setup for spectroscopy and chemical simulations in laboratory astrophysics. Several experiments including cold plasma generation and UV photochemistry were performed in a 40 cm long gas cell placed in the beam path of the Aries 40 m radio telescope receivers operating in the 41–49 GHz frequency range interfaced with fast Fourier transform spectrometers providing 2 GHz bandwidth and 38 kHz resolution. The impedance matching of the cell windows has been studied using di erent materials. The choice of the material and its thickness was critical to obtain a sensitivity identical to that of standard radio astronomical observations. Spectroscopic signals arising from very low partial pressures of CH3OH, CH3CH2OH, HCOOH, OCS, CS, SO2 (, The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC-SyG-2013 Grant Agreement No. 610256 NANOCOSMOS and from spanish MINECO CSD2009-00038 (ASTROMOL) under the Consolider-Ingenio Program. We also thank spanish MINECO for funding under grants AYA2012-32032, AYA2016-75066-C2-1-P, FIS2013-48087-C2-1-P, FIS2016-77726-C3-1-P, FIS2016-77578-R, MAT2014- 54231-C4-1-P.

The formation of metal/organic interfaces is a complicated process involving chemical interaction, physical nucleation and diffusion, and thin film growth. It is closely related to the performance of organic electronic devices. To understand this process, we investigate the system of aluminum (Al) and tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminum (Alq3) as a model, owing to the well-known strong chemical interaction between both and their close technological relevance to organic light emitting devices. By using grazing small angle incidence X-ray scattering (GISAXS), we follow the Al thin film development on top of Alq3 during radio frequency (rf) sputter deposition in real-time and without interrupting the growth process. Three growth stages have been clearly distinguished: Al diffusion into Alq3, Al/Alq3 complex agglomeration and self-assembled Al pillar nanostructure thin film development. Thus in situ GISAXS yields the fundamental insights into the formation of the metal/organic interface for small organic semic...

X-ray Scattering / Ares, Alicia Esther (Editor) ; : InTech, , Chapter 2 ; ISBN: 978-953-51-2887-8 ; doi:10.5772/62609; London : InTech 29-60 (2017). doi:10.5772/64877, With the advent of third-generation synchrotron sources and the development of fast two-dimensional X-ray detectors, X-ray scattering has become an invaluable tool for in-situ time-resolved experiments. In the case of thin films, grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) constitutes a powerful technique to extract morphological information not only of the thin film surface but also of buried structures with statistical relevance. Thus, recently in-situ GISAXS experiments with subsecond time resolution have enabled investigating the self-assembly processes during vacuum deposition of metallic and organic thin films as well as the structural changes of polymer and colloidal thin films in the course of wet deposition. Moreover, processing of thin films has also been investigated in-situ employing GISAXS. In this chapter, we review the current trends of time-resolved GISAXS studies. After an introduction to the GISAXS technique, we present exemplary results of metallic and organic thin film preparation, wet deposition of polymer thin films and self-assembly of colloidal thin films, as well as examples of thin film modification in, e.g., microfluidic channels and within working devices. Finally, an overview of the future perspectives in the field is provided., Published by InTech, London

The morphology and the photovoltaic characteristics of a polymer–fullerene bulk‐heterojunction solar cell processed with a processing additive are probed simultaneously. The processing additive reversibly enhances the solar cell performance which decays when the additive is lost., This work was financially supported by TUM Solar in the frame of the Bavarian Collaborative Research Project “Solar technologies go Hybrid” (SolTec), the GreenTech Initiative (Interface Science for Photovoltaics – ISPV) of the EuroTech Universities, and the Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM). C.J.S. thanks the Bavarian State Ministry of Sciences, Research and Arts for funding this work via the International Graduate School “Materials Science of Complex Interfaces” (CompInt) and Dr. Matthias A. Ruderer for discussion and preliminary work. C.M.P. acknowledges financial support by the “International Graduate School of Science and Engineering” (IGSSE).

Understanding the growth of organic semi-conducting molecules with shape anisotropy is of high relevance to the processing of optoelectronic devices. This work provides insight into the growth of thin films of the prototypical rodlike organic semiconductor diindenoperylene on a microscopic level, by analyzing in detail the film morphology. We model our data, which were obtained by high-resolution grazing incidence small angle x-ray scattering (GISAXS), using a theoretical description from small angle scattering theory derived for simple liquids. Based on form factor calculations for different object types we determine how the island shapes change in the respective layers. Atomic force microscopy measurements approve our findings., 11 pages, 7 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev. B

We describe the new experimental possibilities of the micro- and nanofocus X-ray scattering beamline P03 of the synchrotron source PETRA III at DESY, Hamburg (Germany), which arise from experiments with smaller beam sizes in the micrometer range. This beamline has been upgraded recently to perform new kinds of experiments. The use of an intermediate focus allows for reducing the beam size of microfocused hard X-rays while preserving a large working distance between the focusing elements and the focus position. For the first time, this well-known methodology has been employed to grazing incidence small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS/GIWAXS). As examples, we highlight the applications to in situ studies using microfluidic devices in GISAXS geometry as well as the investigation of the crystallinity of thin films in GIWAXS geometry.

The fabrication of substrates for Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) applications matching the needs for high sensitive and reproducible sensors remains a major scientific and technological issue. We correlate the morphological parameters of silver (Ag) nanostructured thin films prepared by sputter deposition on flat silicon (Si) substrates with their SERS activity. A maximum enhancement of the SERS signal has been found at the Ag percolation threshold, leading to the detection of thiophenol, a non-resonant Raman probe, at concentrations as low as 10-10M, which corresponds to enhancement factors higher than 7 orders of magnitude. To gain full control over the developed nanostructure, we employed the combination of in-situ time-resolved microfocus Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering with sputter deposition. This enables to achieve a deepened understanding of the different growth regimes of Ag. Thereby an improved tailoring of the thin film nanostructure for SERS applications can be realized. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Over the last decade the use of synchrotron infrared microspectroscopy to spatially discriminate chemical and structural features in many different types of materials has grown considerably and has made significant impact in numerous research areas, in particular, in biological sciences and medicine. Although the brightness advantage of the synchrotron infrared (IR) source is well accepted as the key to high spatial discrimination, little attention has been given to measure the polarization properties of the synchrotron light at the sample stage in IR microscopy. In this work the intrinsic polarization of the IR source and its consequences for the study of anisotropic materials are discussed. The polarization characteristics of predominantly bending magnet radiation and predominantly edge radiation sources were measured at the microscope focus and compared. To illustrate the direct use of the intrinsic polarization of these sources in microscopy, the orientation and conformational details of a drawn polymer sample are considered.

Solution-processed organic bulk heterojunction solar cells based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) blended with [6,6]-phenyl-C60-butyric acid methyl ester are doped with different concentrations of iron (II,III) oxide nanoparticles (Fe3O4). The power conversion efficiency of the devices doped at low concentrations is improved up to 11%. The improvement finds its origin in a lower recombination current, which is a consequence of an increased effective exciton lifetime according to the J–V characteristics and the optoelectronical analysis of the films. The increase in performance cannot be attributed to changes in morphology or crystallinity according to grazing-incidence X-ray scattering experiments. The evolution of the solar cell short-circuit current at low doping concentrations is related to variations in the arrangement of the crystalline regions of P3HT. For high doping concentrations (above 1.0 wt%) the performance of the solar cell decays rapidly, ascribed to the increased leakage currents in the device caused by the presence of nanoparticles.

Review of scientific instruments 84, 043901 (2013). doi:10.1063/1.4798544, HASE (Highly Automated Sputter Equipment) is a new mobile setup developed to investigate deposition processes with synchrotron radiation. HASE is based on an ultra-high vacuum sputter deposition chamber equipped with an in-vacuum sample pick-and-place robot. This enables a fast and reliable sample change without breaking the vacuum conditions and helps to save valuable measurement time, which is required for experiments at synchrotron sources like PETRA III at DESY. An advantageous arrangement of several sputter guns, mounted on a rotative flange, gives the possibility to sputter under different deposition angles or to sputter different materials on the same substrate. The chamber is also equipped with a modular sample stage, which allows for the integration of different sample environments, such as a sample heating and cooling device. The design of HASE is unique in the flexibility. The combination of several different sputtering methods like standard deposition, glancing angle deposition, and high pressure sputter deposition combined with heating and cooling possibil-ities of the sample, the large exit windows, and the degree of automation facilitate many different grazing incidence X-ray scattering experiments, such as grazing incidence small and wide angle X-ray scattering, in one setup. In this paper we describe in detail the design and the performance of the new equipment and present the installation of the HASE apparatus at the Micro and Nano focus X-ray Scattering beamline (MiNaXS) at PETRA III. Furthermore, we describe the measurement options and present some selected results. The HASE setup has been successfully commissioned and is now available for users., Published by American Institute of Physics, [S.l.]

The spatially resolved dichroic behaviour of a series of isothermally crystallised samples of isotactic polypropylene and polybutene-1 was investigated using polarization-modulated synchrotron infrared microspectroscopy (PM-SIRMS). The high brightness of the synchrotron source provides a good signal-to-noise performance at high spatial resolution in spite of the significant loss in infrared intensity through the photoelastic modulator. This technique gives access to information on average polymer chain orientation and crystalline morphology at the microscale, widening the possibilities for spatially resolved dichroic mapping of polymeric materials.

The last decade has seen a spectacular growth in the use of synchrotron-based IR sources for infrared microspectroscopy. The unique features of coupling synchrotron radiation into commercial IR microscopes at IR beamlines gives access to spatially resolved infrared spectra with superior signal-to-noise characteristics. Specific features of the technique are discussed with particular emphasis on its application to the study of polymeric materials, with examples from a series of heterogeneous polymeric systems, including semicrystalline polymers and blends, reinforced composites and microstructured polymer membranes.