Chapter 7 Detection of Organic Attachment onto Highly Ordered Three-Dimensional Nanostructure Thin Films by Generalized Ellipsometry and Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation Techniques Keith B. Rodenhausen, Daniel Schmidt, Charles Rice, Tino Hofmann, Eva Schubert, and Mathias Schubert Abstract Highly ordered three-dimensional nanostructure thin films provide sub- stantially increased surface area for organic attachment and new detection principles due to the new and unique optical and physical properties of the nanostructures. Upon organic material attachment, the optical birefringence of these highly ordered three-dimensional nanostructure thin films changes due to screening of polarization charges. The surfaces of the highly ordered three-dimensional nanostructure thin films are thus suitable candidates for studying organic adsorption for sensing and chromatography applications. We review contemporary research in this area and specifically report the monitoring of organic attachment using the generalized ellip- sometry and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation techniques. Both methods are sensitive to the adsorption of organic layers, on the order of few angstroms to few micrometers in thickness, at the solid-liquid interface. The combinatorial use of both techniques, described in Chap. 11, provides insight toward how organic ma- terials attach within highly ordered three-dimensional nanostructure thin films. We discuss studies of fibronectin protein adsorption, decanethiol chemisorption, and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide adsorption. We also address potential future de- velopments and applications. 7.1 Introduction Three-dimensional (3D) nanostructure thin films, also known as sculptured thin films (STFs), are a class of materials of great contemporary interest. A STF is a K.B. Rodenhausen (B ) Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1400 R Street, Lincoln, NE 68508, USA e-mail: kbrod@engr.unl.edu D. Schmidt · C. Rice · T. Hofmann · E. Schubert · M. Schubert Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1400 R Street, Lincoln, NE 68508, USA K. Hinrichs, K.-J. Eichhorn (eds.), Ellipsometry of Functional Organic Surfaces and Films, Springer Series in Surface Sciences 52, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-40128-2_7, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 135