A Brief Overview of Basic Surface Morphology Characterization Techniques in Thin Films

Abstract

Thin films and nanoscale materials are the fundamental building blocks for many high-tech applications today. Understanding and optimizing the performance of these materials highlights the importance of fundamental surface morphology characterization techniques. The surface morphology of these materials at the atomic and molecular scale is studied by various characterization methods such as electron microscopes, scanning tunneling microscopes and surface analysis techniques. These techniques provide critical information on the material's surface topography, crystal structural properties and chemical composition. In thin film technologies, the uniformity and order of a material's surface morphology greatly affects its optical and electrical properties. Whereas in nanoscale materials, the determination of surface morphology plays an important role, especially in areas such as catalysis, sensor technologies and nanoelectronics. These characterization techniques provide researchers, engineers and industry in the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology with critical information to optimize the design, fabrication and performance of nanoscale materials. For this purpose, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques used in the characterization of the surface morphology of thin films were mainly investigated.