Spectroscopic depth profilometry of organic thin films upon inductively coupled plasma etching

During the deposition and post-treatments of organic films, phase separation along the film-depth direction is a commonly observed phenomenon. Thus, film-depth profilometry of organic thin films and the corresponding scientific instruments are attracting extensive interest. Here, we propose spectroscopic film-depth profilometry of organic thin films upon inductively coupled plasma etching. Compared with capacitively coupled plasma, which usually generates inhomogeneous filamentous discharge, damaging films underneath the etched surface, inductively coupled plasma studied in this work refers to a so-called soft plasma source generated by a well-defined homogenous glow discharge. The absorption spectra of the etched films are monitored by using a spectrometer, from which the film-depth-dependent light absorption spectra are, thus, numerically obtained with a film-depth resolution better than 1 nm. This methodology is available not only for non-conjugated molecules but also for conjugated organic semiconductors, which are usually known as unstable materials for many ionic plasma sources. Organic films for solar cells and field-effect transistors are investigated as model materials to demonstrate the applications of this depth profilometry.