Determination of the optical dispersion in ferroelectric vinylidene fluoride (70%)/trifluoroethylene (30%) copolymer Langmuir-Blodgett films

We report measurements of the optical dispersion in ferroelectric Langmuir-Blodgett films of polyvinylidene fluoride (70%)-trifluoroethylene (30%) copolymer, using variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry over a wide spectral range from infrared to ultraviolet. Film thickness averaged 1.78+/-0.07 nm per deposition layer for films ranging from 5 to 125 deposition layers as determined from multi-sample analysis. This deposition rate was consistent with capacitance measurements, yielding a dielectric constant of 9.9+/-0.4 normal to the film, by quartz microbalance measurements, and by atomic force microscopy. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.