Cold Plasma Effects on Optical Properties of Salmon DNA Thin-films*

Fabrication of organic semiconductor electronics is attractive due to the prospective lower cost when compared to inorganic devices. In particular, Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) bio-polymers show excellent promise for use in organic electronics due to their great electron-blocking/hole-transmitting capability and abundance in animal waste products. While DNA thin-films are often created by associating DNA-sodium salt with hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTMA) surfactant to promote DNA solubility in organic solvents and spin coat higher quality films, some success in reproducing uniform, water-based DNA thin-films on silicon and glass substrates has been achieved by incorporation of methanol as well as implementation of UV-ozone cleaning. Water-based salmon DNA films are being subjected to cold plasma treatment to study its effects on the films via ellipsometry and spectrophotometry, where optical properties such as the refractive index and extinction coefficient have been characterized.

Key words: DNA, spin coating, cold plasma treatment, ellipsometry, spectrophotometry