Large area quantitative analysis of nanostructured thin-films

Abstract

1-D nanostructured thin-films exhibit, amongst other properties, unique mechanical, electrical, thermal, and optical properties. These depend strongly on several aspects, including size, dimension and density. A thorough characterization of a nanostructured film requires extensive time and is a great effort in terms of human resources. This article presents a facile implementation of an automatic quantitative method for the characterization of nanostructured thin-films using a SEM image-based automatic characterization solution to evaluate the size distribution and surface area (areal density) of assembled structures on a large scale. The implemented solution has been used to evaluate electrochemically deposited zinc oxide nanorod thin-films as well as additional inorganic thin-films. To validate the results, the proposed characterization method was compared with manual small-scale characterization methods.