Substrate preparation techniques

SURFACE ENHANCEMENT BY SAMPLE AND SUBSTRATE PREPARATION TECHNIQUES IN RAMAN AND INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY... 

Third, the bulk of the items in Table 1 address method performance. These requirements must be satisfied on a substrate-by-substrate basis to address substrate-specific interferences. As discussed above, interferences are best dealt with by application of conventional sample preparation techniques use of blank substrate to account for background interferences is not permitted. The analyst must establish a limit of detection (LOD), the lowest standard concentration that yields a signal that can be differentiated from background, and an LOQ (the reader is referred to Brady for a discussion of different techniques used to determine the LOD for immunoassays). For example, analysis of a variety of corn fractions requires the generation of LOD and LOQ data for each fraction. Procedural recoveries must accompany each analytical set and be based on fresh fortification of substrate prior to extraction. Recovery samples serve to confirm that the extraction and cleanup procedures were conducted correctly for all samples in each set of analyses. Carrying control substrate through the analytical procedure is good practice if practicable. 

Volume VI. Preparation and Assay of Enzymes (Continued) Preparation and Assay of Substrates Special Techniques... 

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a powerful and mature microstructural characterization technique. The principles and applications of TEM have been described in many books [16 20]. The image formation in TEM is similar to that in optical microscopy, but the resolution of TEM is far superior to that of an optical microscope due to the enormous differences in the wavelengths of the sources used in these two microscopes. Today, most TEMs can be routinely operated at a resolution better than 0.2 nm, which provides the desired microstructural information about ultrathin layers and their interfaces in OLEDs. Electron beams can be focused to nanometer size, so nanochemical analysis of materials can be performed [21]. These unique abilities to provide structural and chemical information down to atomic-nanometer dimensions make it an indispensable technique in OLED development. However, TEM specimens need to be very thin to make them transparent to electrons. This is one of the most formidable obstacles in using TEM in this field. Current versions of OLEDs are composed of hard glass substrates, soft organic materials, and metal layers. Conventional TEM sample preparation techniques are no longer suitable for these samples [22-24], Recently, these difficulties have been overcome by using the advanced dual beam (DB) microscopy technique, which will be discussed later. 

The OLED is composed of hard and soft layers so that the conventional cross-sectional TEM sample preparation techniques cannot be applied. Figure 10.3 is a first DB microscopy-prepared TEM image of an OLED in cross-sectional view [37], The glass substrate, ITO, organic layers, and A1 cathode are indicated in the image. The microstructure and interfaces of all these layers can be well studied now. The nanometer-sized spots in organic layers are indium-rich particles. We believe the combination of DB microscopy and TEM will greatly advance the OLED research and development in the near future. 

In this chapter membrane preparation techniques are organized by membrane structure isotropic membranes, anisotropic membranes, ceramic and metal membranes, and liquid membranes. Isotropic membranes have a uniform composition and structure throughout such membranes can be porous or dense. Anisotropic (or asymmetric) membranes, on the other hand, consist of a number of layers each with different structures and permeabilities. A typical anisotropic membrane has a relatively dense, thin surface layer supported on an open, much thicker micro-porous substrate. The surface layer performs the separation and is the principal barrier to flow through the membrane. The open support layer provides mechanical strength. Ceramic and metal membranes can be either isotropic or anisotropic. 

It was first produced in the early 1960s by The General Electric Company, UK, by using cellulose as a substrate. Present techniques of preparation of glassy carbon utilize such organic substrates as phenolic resins and involve controlled pyrolysis in inert atmosphere at temperatures ranging between 1000 and 3000 °C. 

Schottky contacts on ZnO were realized by the thermal evaporation of Ag, Au, Ni, or Pd, respectively. We used different surface preparation techniques prior to the deposition of the contact metal. For the single crystals a front-back contact configuration was used while a front-front configuration has to be used for thin films grown on insulating sapphire substrates. The homogeneity of the Schottky contacts depends on the surface preparation as revealed by electron beam induced current (EBIC) measurements (Fig. 6). 

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