Correction: AFM-IR investigation of thin PECVD SiO_x films on a polypropylene substrate in the surface-sensitive mode

• Hendrik Müller,
• Hartmut Stadler,
• Teresa de los Arcos,
• Adrian Keller and
• Guido Grundmeier

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 252–253, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.19

• /bjnano.16.19 Keywords: AFM-IR; polypropylene; surface-sensitive mode; silicon oxide; thin films; XPS; The authors regret that the acknowledgement in the publication is unfortunately not complete. The following sentence in the Funding section is missing: This work was supported by the German Research

• Foundation (DFG) under grant number 407752136 and North Rhine-Westphalia based on the funding for large appliances (AFM-IR). The complete funding section should read: Funding This work was financially supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the project “Functional PECVD coatings as

• migration barrier for the use of postconsumer recycled materials in food contact” (TRR 87 - T07 Project number 138690629). This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) under grant number 407752136 and North Rhine-Westphalia based on the funding for large appliances (AFM-IR).

AFM-IR investigation of thin PECVD SiO_x films on a polypropylene substrate in the surface-sensitive mode

• Hendrik Müller,
• Hartmut Stadler,
• Teresa de los Arcos,
• Adrian Keller and
• Guido Grundmeier

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 603–611, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.51

• /bjnano.15.51 Abstract Thin silicon oxide films deposited on a polypropylene substrate by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition were investigated using atomic force microscopy-based infrared (AFM-IR) nanospectroscopy in contact and surface-sensitive mode. The focus of this work is the comparison of

• the different measurement methods (i.e., contact mode and surface-sensitive mode) with respect to the chemical surface sensitivity. The use of the surface-sensitive mode in AFM-IR shows an enormous improvement for the analysis of thin films on the IR-active substrate. As a result, in this mode, the

• signal of the substrate material could be significantly reduced. Even layers that are so thin that they could hardly be measured in the contact mode can be analyzed with the surface-sensitive mode. Keywords: AFM-IR; polypropylene; surface-sensitive mode; silicon oxide; thin films; XPS; Introduction

Bulk chemical composition contrast from attractive forces in AFM force spectroscopy

• Dorothee Silbernagl,
• Media Ghasem Zadeh Khorasani,
• Natalia Cano Murillo,
• Anna Maria Elert and
• Heinz Sturm

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 58–71, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.5

• measurements are easier to implement, since no additional sample preparation is necessary [20]. There is a number of AFM-based methods, such as tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) [21], AFM-based infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR) [16][22], noncontact AFM (ncAFM ) [23][24], chemical AFM (cAFM) [25][26], and

• Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPM) [27] which were developed to identify local chemical or structural specificities in the samples. All the methods mentioned above are, to different degrees, advanced techniques which require additional equipment and expertise. TERS and AFM-IR are hybrid setups which

• include additional Raman and IR instrumentation, respectively. The effort to perform TERS or AFM-IR experiments is only justified if a detailed analysis of the chemical structure is needed. In this study, however, we aim to identify the material contrast which is provided by more accessible in situ

Relationships between chemical structure, mechanical properties and materials processing in nanopatterned organosilicate fins

• Gheorghe Stan,
• Richard S. Gates,
• Qichi Hu,
• Kevin Kjoller,
• Craig Prater,
• Kanwal Jit Singh,
• Ebony Mays and
• Sean W. King

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 863–871, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.88

• molecular/chemical structure characterization has only been recently demonstrated with the advent of atomic-force-microscopy-based infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR) and related techniques. Therefore, we have combined measurements of chemical structures with AFM-IR and of mechanical properties with contact

• observed structure–property relationships are specific to organosilicates, we believe the combined demonstration of AFM-IR with CR-AFM should pave the way for a similar nanoscale characterization of other materials where the understanding of such relationships is essential. Keywords: atomic force

• materials property measurement techniques to provide credible demonstrations of nanoscale structure–property characterization. In this regard, we provide here a compelling demonstration of nanoscale chemical structure–mechanical property characterization by combining AFM-based IR (AFM-IR) [28] spectroscopy