Conduction band electronic states of ultrathin thiophene-phenylene co-oligomer and substituted biphenyl films on the surface of layer-by-layer grown ZnO

Abstract

The results of studying the electronic states of the conduction band and interface potential barrier during the formation of ultrathin films of thiophene-phenylene co-oligomer CH3-phenylene-thiophene-thiophene-phenylene -CH3(CH3-PTTP-CH3) on the surface of ZnO and films of biphenyl tetracarboxylic dianhydride (BPDA) on the ZnO surface are presented. A 100 nm thick ZnO layer was prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Organic CH3-PTTP-CH3 films and BPDA films up to 8 nm thick were formed by thermal vacuum deposition. During film deposition, the electronic characteristics of the surface were studied using total current spectroscopy (TCS) in the energy range from 5 eV to 20 eV above EF. In this energy range, the structure of the maxima of the unoccupied electronic states of CH3-PTTP-CH3 and BPDA films was determined. As a result of the CH3-PTTP-CH3 film deposition, a decrease in the work function to 4.0 eV was found, compared with the value of the work function of 4.2 eV measured from the ALD ZnO-substrate. This corresponds to the transfer of a negative charge from the CH3-PTTP-CH3 film to the substrate. The charge transfer at the interface between the BPDA film and the ALD ZnO-substrate occurs in the opposite direction, since a 4.7 eV increase of the work function was registered during the formation of this interface. The CH3-PTTP-CH3 and BPDA films studied and the layer-by-layer grown ZnO film represent a continuous coating on sufficiently large surface areas of the order of 10 μmx10 μm. The roughness of the ZnO surface does not exceed 4 nm, and the surface roughness of CH3-PTTP-CH3 and BPDA films was 10-15 nm. Keywords: thiophene-phenylene co-oligomers, biphenyl tetracarboxylic dianhydride, ultrathin films, ZnO, atomic layer deposition method, electronic properties, low-energy electron spectroscopy, interface potential barrier.

Unoccupied electronic states of ultrathin phenolphthalein films on the ZnO surface formed by atomic layer deposition

“…1) [5,6]. This process can be activated by electron capture by the phthalide molecule under a direct impact of incident electron beam [5], as a result of introduction of electroactive substituents into the molecule [7,8], or as a result of electron charge transfer through the interface on the boundary of organic material and solid-state surface [9,10]. Semiconductor metal oxides, such as ZnO, in the form of layers or as part of a hybrid of organic and inorganic materials demonstrate wide opportunities for use in photovoltaic devices [10][11][12].…”