Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
Nanocomposites of transparent, multilayer structures of different thin-films have been fabricated on single crystal silicon and quartz substrates by the new deposition technique called electrostatic self-assembly (ESA) method. The method is based on the alternating adsorption of anionic and cationic polyelectrolytes in the aqueous forms. The films were then characterized by UV/Vis spectroscopy, ellipsometry, and nano-indenter. A linear behavior of both optical absorption and film thickness as the number of bilayers increases was observed, which indicated the formation of homogeneous and uniform thin-films on both substrates. The study also observed that the films prepared by this novel method have some improved mechanical properties.