I created a thin layer of zinc oxide on a glass substrate by sol-gel method. We now want to examine the adhesion of this layer to the substrate. I want to know what is the best way for this one?
Have you done annealing after films coated on the substrate? If you did, the films are very difficult to remove using scotch adhesive tape. You could try to do it. Before doing so, record the images under a microscope. Then after testing, check whether any changes happen on the films. Please let us know what is going on.
Film adhesion can be checked with Nano-indentor method. In case you don't have that machine in your university you can go with a simpler technique.
For this I think the scotch tape method is a good method to check your adhesion of film on substrate.
In this method you take sharp surgical knife and slice the film along the length and once along the breadth. in this you will end up having several rectangles/squares. I am attaching a schematic for your reference. then you can stick a scotch tape and peel it off. The no of perfect square remained before and after peeling will give you a small quantitative data for adhesion. Moreover, the weight of your sample before and after peeling will also provide you with some quantitative data.