Osamu Watanabe, Taiji Ikawa,
Masaaki Tsuchimori, Hideki Takagi

We demonstrate a photoinduced nanofabrication method using azobenzene-containing polymers that is applicable to dimensions beyond the diffraction limit. We present an example of nanometer-scaled patterning induced by the optical near-field around arrayed polystyrene microspheres, and present a method of high-speed optical recording by means of an optical fiber probe with a small aperture. We also discuss the mechanisms of deformation on the azopolymer surface. Azopolymers are expected to become attractive materials for near-field application due to their sensitive deformation characteristics.

The chemical and morphological structures of the surface and interface of organic electroluminescent devices were evaluated using surface analysis techniques. The effect of surface polarity of the substrate with regard to the morphology of an overlying hole-transport material was investigated by atomic force microscopy, decomposition of the light-emitting material during depositing cathode material was investigated by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectro-metry, and the growth mechanism of dark spots in devices was investigated based on the mass spectrometry results. It was confirmed that these analytical methods are useful for solving problems related to the development of EL devices.