Setup for chemical atmospheric control during in situ grazing incidence X-ray scattering of printed thin films

In order to tailor the assembling of polymers and organic molecules, a deeper understanding of the kinetics involved in thin film production is necessary. While post-production characterization only provides insight on the final film structure, more sophisticated experimental setups are needed to probe the structure formation processes in situ during deposition. The drying kinetics of a deposited organic thin film strongly influences the assembling process on the nanometer scale. This work presents an experimental setup that enables fine control of the atmosphere composition surrounding the sample during slot die coating, while simultaneously probing the film formation kinetics using in situ grazing incidence X-ray scattering and spectroscopy. Published by AIP Publishing.