Paper SS2+EM-MoM3
Tuning Properties of Thin Films by Aminofunctionalization

Monday, October 18, 2010, 9:00 am, Room Santa Ana

Surfaces and interfaces play an important role in development of modern microelectronics, optoelectronics, biosensing and other fields. This work will describe the approaches to tune the properties of interfaces, surfaces, and subsurface layers of participating materials by aminofunctionalization. The amino-groups of a general formula NH_x have been used in our group to control surface reactions on semiconductor surfaces, to promote deposition schemes on surfaces of thin solid diffusion barrier films, and to provide a reliable surface sites for biofunctionalization of self-assembled monolayers. In all of these cases, the reactivity of the amino-group can be designed to fit the required application. We will use selected temperature regimes, alkyl, aryl, and other substituents to alter the reactivity of amino-terminated surfaces and to reversibly tune the properties of surface and subsurface layers in thin solid films. Infrared spectroscopy was used to determine the chemical nature of the surface termination, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was applied to discover the stability of the surfaces and interfaces produced and to assist in assessing the chemical state of nitrogen-containing functional groups, microscopic techniques, including atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were employed to uncover the topographic properties and structure of the films based on titanium carbonitride that serve as a diffusion barrier and of the self-assembled amino-terminated layers utilized as platforms for biosensing devices. The preparation, structure, reactivity, and stability of these aminofunctionalized surfaces and interfaces will be discussed.