Atomic Force Microscopy Characterization of Thin Films: A Review

Abstract

Metal chalcogenide films have attracted great attention because of their unique physical, optical, and electrical properties. The obtained films showed excellent absorption coefficient, direct band gap and good transparency in the visible portion. Therefore, these materials could be used in optical windows, opto-electronic devices, solar cells, radiation detectors, optic modulators and infrared detector. In this work, the topography of the prepared films was studied using atomic force microscopy technique based on selected literature review. The findings indicated that the morphologies of the surface structures of thin films vary with the deposition techniques and experimental conditions.