Full-field thickness measurement of ultrathin liquid film in receding contact-induced nanochannel using surface plasmon resonance

This research demonstrates that a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging technique can effectively measure full-field nanoscale thickness of a liquid water film filled in the receding contact-induced nano-channel. To the authors’ knowledge this has not been demonstrated previously. Experimental calibration has been conducted by measuring surface plasmon resonance reflectance depending on the piezometer-controlled water nano-film thickness and comparing the experimental results with the theoretical calculations to show very good agreement. The measured full-field thickness profiles significantly visualize the three-dimensional nano-channel formation filled with liquid water film. It shows that the sensitivity and the resolution in thickness measurement are estimated as 1.21 pixel gray level/nm and 2.5 nm, respectively. The experimentally observed resolution is around 10 nm given the uncertainty in the demonstrated full-field mapping of thickness. From this research, it is demonstrated that SPR imaging successfully measures the thickness of ultrathin liquid film especially below 85 nm in full-field under normal conditions and can effectively characterize the three-dimensional nano-channel formation during the receding contact process.

This research demonstrates that a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging technique can effectively measure full-field nanoscale thickness of a liquid water film filled in the receding contact-induced nano-channel. To the authors’ knowledge this has not been demonstrated previously. Experimental calibration has been conducted by measuring surface plasmon resonance reflectance depending on the piezometer-controlled water nano-film thickness and comparing the experimental results with the theoretical calculations to show very good agreement. The measured full-field thickness profiles significantly visualize the three-dimensional nano-channel formation filled with liquid water film. It shows that the sensitivity and the resolution in thickness measurement are estimated as 1.21 pixel gray level/nm and 2.5 nm, respectively. The experimentally observed resolution is around 10 nm given the uncertainty in the demonstrated full-field mapping of thickness. From this research, it is demonstrated that SPR imaging successfully measures the thickness of ultrathin liquid film especially below 85 nm in full-field under normal conditions and can effectively characterize the three-dimensional nano-channel formation during the receding contact process.