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Nanomaterials

Chemistry In Pictures

Chemistry in Pictures: Rough atomic terrain

by Manny I. Fox Morone
May 13, 2022

 

A gloved hand holds a square blue piece of silicon with wavy rainbow patterns on it.
Credit: Alexander Weiß

Mistakes can be beautiful in the HelsinkiALD group—a lab focused on atomic layer deposition at the University of Helsinki. Doctoral researcher Alexander Weiß made this multicolor film by accident after depositing thin layers of hafnium oxide. The goal was to make a totally smooth film of atoms, but the range of colors on the substrate reveals that the film has a slightly varied thickness across its surface, each level of thickness amplifying a different wavelength of the ambient white light. (The same thing makes the rainbow patterns on soap bubbles.) “So on a nanometer scale this would compare to a mountain-valley landscape, which makes the film look nice but otherwise useless.” Weiß says. As an example of what a thin film ideally looks like, you can see one of his smoother, single-color films made of aluminum oxide below.

A gloved hand holds a square blue piece of silicon.
Credit: Alexander Weiß

Submitted by Alexander Weiß. Follow the HelsinkiALD group on Twitter and the University of Helskinki chemistry department and Alexander on Instagram.

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Correction

This story was updated on June 24, 2022, to correct Alexander Weiß's position. He is a doctoral researcher, not a postdoc.

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