After Café: Characterization of Organic Thin Films and Surfaces

This talk will demonstrate some strategies for determining the structure and composition of organic thin films (less than 100 nm) with an emphasis on vibrational spectroscopy (FT-IR and Raman) and other select techniques such as AFM-IR and XPS. The pros, cons, and sampling considerations for each technique will be demonstrated using various examples from work performed in MCL and literature. The influence of film thickness, substrate type, and information needed on the decision of which analytical technique(s) to use will also be discussed.