AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Applied Surface Science Friday Sessions
       Session AS-FrM

Paper AS-FrM5
Electrospray Deposition of Macro-Molecular Thin Films in High Vacuum Directly From Solution for Surface Science Applications

Friday, November 17, 2006, 9:20 am, Room 2005

Session: Thin Film Characterization
Presenter: M.M. Beerbom, University of South Florida
Authors: M.M. Beerbom, University of South Florida
Y. Yi, University of South Florida
J.E. Lyon, University of South Florida
A.J. Cascio, University of South Florida
J.P. Magulick, University of South Florida
R. Schlaf, University of South Florida
Correspondent: Click to Email
Electrospray is a widely used technique in mass spectrometry of large molecules since it leaves the injected molecules intact. We have adopted this technique for the deposition of macro-molecular thin films in high vacuum for surface scientific applications. Our results demonstrate the essentially contamination free deposition of a wide variety of macro molecular materials, such as conductive polymers, bio-molecules and nano-particles. This allows the fabrication of clean thin films without the presence of ambient contaminants, enabling the use of vacuum based surface science techniques for their investigation. Previously, only ex-situ prepared macro-molecular thin films (or model systems, such as oligomers in lieu of polymers) could be investigated with these techniques. The main reason impeding evaporative deposition of macro-molecular materials under vacuum conditions is the thermal fragility and high molecular mass of these materials. In our presentation we will report about the performance of photoemission spectroscopic investigations in concert with multi-step in-situ electrospray deposition sequences for the investigation of macro-molecular interfaces. Our results demonstrate a deposition control similar to what can be achieved using in-situ evaporation.