S.G. Rao, M.B. Haider, M. B. Mekki
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals,
Saudi Arabia
Keywords: ZnO Oxide Hybrid Thin Film, Self-assembled Monolayer, Optical Characterization
Summary:
Interaction of first few deposited atomic layers with substrate play very important role in growth and morphology of very thin films of metal and semiconductors. For many good quality thin films buffer layer is essential to overcome the low interaction issues. Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of organic molecules are good alternate to control the surface properties of metallic and semiconducting surfaces in addition to their wide range applications from molecular electronics to immobilization of bio-molecules. In addition, single/multilayer hybrid thin films with SAM and other nanostructures in between have been reported to develop hybrids with more interesting physical properties. Morphology of inorganic thin film strongly depends upon organic functional group (OFG) of SAM and nanostructure (NS) underneath. Depending upon the OFG of SAM a chemical reaction may take place at the interface between first atomic layer and OFG of SAM. Cluster like and uniform thin film of deposited ZnO was observed when same amount of ZnO deposited on SAM with different OFG. Interaction between SAM/NS and deposited ZnO in addition to morphology can affect other physical properties of the deposited thin films. Morphology and optical properties of ZnO hybrid thin films of different thicknesses will be presented.