Tunneling Atomic Force Microscopy Characterization of Cuprous Oxide Thin Films

Authors

Brett Castle, Air Force Institute of Technology
Alex Li, Air Force Institute of Technology
Ronald A. Coutu Jr., Marquette UniversityFollow
Robert Hengehold, Air Force Institute of Technology
Joseph Van Nostrand, Air Force Institute of Technology

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Language

eng

Publication Date

2011

Publisher

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)

Source Publication

2011 11th IEEE International Conference on Nanotechnology

Source ISSN

1944-9399

Abstract

In this work we characterized thermally grown cuprous oxide thin films using tunneling atomic force microscopy (TUNA) and optical reflection measurements. Significant hysteresis was observed in the I-V curves measured at the nanometer contact under various bias voltages. Histogram analysis of the barrier voltage distribution indicated the barrier height is related to electrochemical potentials for oxidation/ reduction of copper atoms. Changes in chemical state of copper atoms were identified by optical reflectance measurements in the UV-VIS-NIR wavelength region. The peak shift observed in the optical reflection measurements from the short to the long wavelength is attributed to the quantum size confinement effects of the nanometer-scale cuprous particles formed in the films. The grain size, including surface roughness, was measured by topographic AFM imaging. The fluctuations in the I-V measurements are likely due to changes of electrochemical properties of cuprous ions in the film, including the grain size distribution. The asymmetric distribution in the barrier height may indicate that a different probability for injecting an electron in and withdrawing an electron from the films.

Comments

Accepted version. 2011 11th IEEE International Conference on Nanotechnology Portland Marriott, Accession Number: 12538884 (August 15-18, 2011): 1470-1473. DOI. © 2011 Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). Used with permission.

Ronald A. Coutu was affiliated with the Air Force Institute of Technology at the time of publication.

Recommended Citation

Castle, Brett; Li, Alex; Coutu, Ronald A. Jr.; Hengehold, Robert; and Van Nostrand, Joseph, "Tunneling Atomic Force Microscopy Characterization of Cuprous Oxide Thin Films" (2011). Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications. 379.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/electric_fac/379