An ellipsometric approach towards the description of inhomogeneous polymer-based Langmuir layers

• Falko O. Rottke,
• Burkhard Schulz,
• Klaus Richau,
• Karl Kratz and
• Andreas Lendlein

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1156–1165, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.107

• -Liebknecht-Straße 24–25, 14476 Golm, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.7.107 Abstract The applicability of nulling-based ellipsometric mapping as a complementary method next to Brewster angle microscopy (BAM) and imaging ellipsometry (IE) is presented for the characterization of ultrathin films at the air–water

• interface. First, the methodology is demonstrated for a vertically nonmoving Langmuir layer of star-shaped, 4-arm poly(ω-pentadecalactone) (PPDL-D4). Using nulling-based ellipsometric mapping, PPDL-D4-based inhomogeneously structured morphologies with a vertical dimension in the lower nm range could be

• enabled and morphological inhomogeneity could be quantified. Keywords: ellipsometric mapping; Langmuir monolayer; polyester; root mean square roughness; spectroscopic ellipsometry; Introduction Ellipsometry is an established in situ technique to investigate surfaces, capable to derive information about