Controlling the early stages of pentacene growth by supersonic molecular beam deposition

Controlled Carboxylic Acid-Functionalized Silicon Nitride Surfaces through Supersonic Molecular Beam Deposition

The functionalization of inorganic surfaces by organic functional molecules is a viable and promising method towards the realization of novel classes of biosensing devices. The proper comprehension of the chemical properties of the interface, as well as of the number of active binding sites for bioreceptor molecules are characteristics that will determine the interaction of the sensor with the analyte, and thus its final efficiency. We present a new and reliable surface functionalization route based on supersonic molecular beam deposition (SuMBD) using 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid as a bi-functional molecular linker on the chemically inert silicon nitride surface to further allow for stable and homogeneous attachment of biomolecules. The kinetically activated binding of the molecular layer to silicon nitride and the growth as a function of deposition time was studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and the properties of films with different thicknesses were investigated by optical and vibrational spectroscopies. After subsequent attachment of a biological probe, fluorescence analysis was used to estimate the molecular layer's surface density. The successful functionalization of silicon nitride surface via SuMBD and the detailed growth and interface analysis paves the way for reliably attaching bioreceptor molecules onto the silicon nitride surface.

Differential Entropy: An Appropriate Analysis to Interpret the Shape Complexity of Self-Similar Organic Islands

Differential entropy, along with fractal dimension, is herein employed to describe and interpret the shape complexity of self-similar organic islands. The islands are imaged with in situ Atomic Force Microscopy, following, step-by-step, the evolution of their shape while deposition proceeds. The fractal dimension shows a linear correlation with the film thickness, whereas the differential entropy presents an exponential plateau. Plotting differential entropy versus fractal dimension, a linear correlation can be found. This analysis enables one to discern the 6T growth on different surfaces, i.e., native SiO_x or 6T layer, and suggests a more comprehensive interpretation of the shape evolution. Changes in fractal dimension reflect rougher variations of the island contour, whereas changes in differential entropy correlates with finer contour details. The computation of differential entropy therefore helps to obtain more physical information on the island shape dependence on the substrate, beyond the standard description obtained with the fractal dimension.

Perylene-Diimide Molecules with Cyano Functionalization for Electron-Transporting Transistors

Core-cyanated perylene diimide (PDI_CY) derivatives are molecular compounds exhibiting an uncommon combination of appealing properties, including remarkable oxidative stability, high electron affinities, and excellent self-assembling properties. Such features made these compounds the subject of study for several research groups aimed at developing electron-transporting (n-type) devices with superior charge transport performances. After about fifteen years since the first report, field-effect transistors based on PDI_CY thin films are still intensely investigated by the scientific community for the attainment of n-type devices that are able to balance the performances of the best p-type ones. In this review, we summarize the main results achieved by our group in the fabrication and characterization of transistors based on PDI8-CN2 and PDIF-CN2 molecules, undoubtedly the most renowned compounds of the PDI_CY family. Our attention was mainly focused on the electrical properties, both at the micro and nanoscale, of PDI8-CN2 and PDIF-CN2 films deposited using different evaporation techniques. Specific topics, such as the contact resistance phenomenon, the bias stress effect, and the operation in liquid environment, have been also analyzed.

Post-Deposition Wetting and Instabilities in Organic Thin Films by Supersonic Molecular Beam Deposition

We discuss the formation and post-deposition instability of nanodrop-like structures in thin films of PDIF-CN2 (a perylene derivative) deposited via supersonic molecular beam deposition technique on highly hydrophobic substrates at room temperature. The role of the deposition rate on the characteristic lengths of the organic nanodrops has been investigated by a systematic analysis of atomic force microscope images of the thin films and through the use of the height-height correlation function. The nanodrops appear to be a metastable configuration for the freshly-deposited films. For this reason, post-deposition wetting effect has been examined with unprecedented accuracy throughout a year of experimental observations. The observed time scales, from few hours to months, are related to the growth rate, and characterize the thin films morphological reordering from three-dimensional nanodrops to a well-connected terraced film. While the interplay between adhesion and cohesion energies favors the formation of 3D-mounted structures during the growth, wetting phenomenon following the switching off of the molecular flux is found to be driven by an instability. A slow rate downhill process survives at the molecular flux shutdown and it is accompanied and maybe favored by the formation of a precursor layer composed of more lying molecules. These results are supported by simulations based on a non-linear stochastic model. The instability has been simulated, for both the growth and the post-growth evolution. To better reproduce the experimental data it is needed to introduce a surface equalizer term characterized by a relaxation time taking into account the presence of a local mechanism of molecular correlation.

On the nucleation and initial film growth of rod-like organic molecules

In this article, some fundamental topics related to the initial steps of organic film growth are reviewed. General conclusions will be drawn based on experimental results obtained for the film formation of oligophenylene and pentacene molecules on gold and mica substrates. Thin films were prepared via physical vapor deposition under ultrahigh-vacuum conditions and characterized in-situ mainly by thermal desorption spectroscopy, and ex-situ by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. In this short review article the following topics will be discussed: What are the necessary conditions to form island-like films which are either composed of flat-lying or of standing molecules? Does a wetting layer exist below and in between the islands? What is the reason behind the occasionally observed bimodal island size distribution? Can one describe the nucleation process with the diffusion-limited aggregation model? Do the impinging molecules directly adsorb on the surface or rather via a hot-precursor state? Finally, it will be described how the critical island size can be determined by an independent measurement of the deposition rate dependence of the island density and the capture-zone distribution via a universal relationship.

Silicon-Chip-Based Dielectric Spectroscopy for Conductivity and Molecular Dynamics Studies of Organic Films

Interdigital electrodes fabricated by standard lithography on silicon chips are employed to probe the dipolar molecular dynamics and electric conduction properties of thin rhodamine films grown with two different methods. The conductivity is due to electronic charge carriers, and at around room-temperature, it is higher by 1 order of magnitude in solution-deposited films than in thermally evaporated ones. The organic material exhibits two intrinsic dynamic processes, of which the one at higher temperature is due to the orientational motion of the dipole moment of the rhodamine units, while the one at lower temperature is due to the motion of a local dipole associated with the chlorine counterions and is absent in thermally evaporated films. Our results show that thin-film dielectric spectroscopy is an easily implementable and versatile tool to extract valuable information on thin organic films.

Nucleation of Organic Molecules via a Hot Precursor State: Pentacene on Amorphous Mica

Organic thin films have attracted considerable interest due to their applicability in organic electronics. The classical scenario for thin film nucleation is the diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA). Recently, it has been shown that organic thin film growth is better described by attachment-limited aggregation (ALA). However, in both cases, an unusual relationship between the island density and the substrate temperature was observed. Here, we present an aggregation model that goes beyond the classical DLA or ALA models to explain this behavior. We propose that the (hot) molecules impinging on the surface cannot immediately equilibrate to the substrate temperature but remain in a hot precursor state. In this state, the molecules can migrate considerable distances before attaching to a stable or unstable island. This results in a significantly smaller island density than expected by assuming fast equilibration and random diffusion. We have applied our model to pentacene film growth on amorphous Muscovite mica.

A free jet (supersonic), molecular beam source with automatized, 50 nm precision nozzle-skimmer positioning

Low energy (thermal) free jet (supersonic) molecular beams are used in a range of applications from surface science and surface deposition to quantum coherence and gas kinetics experiments. A free jet molecular beam is created by a gas expansion from a high pressure reservoir through a small aperture (nozzle). The nozzle typically has a diameter of 2-20 μm. The central part of the beam is selected using a skimmer, typically up to 500 μm in diameter. Recent years have seen the introduction of highly spatially confined beam sources based on micrometer skimmers and micrometer or even sub-micrometer nozzles. Such sources have been applied, for example, in the investigation of superfluidity and in neutral helium microscopy. However, up till now no source design allowing the precise positioning of the micro-skimmer relative to the nozzle has been available. This is an important issue because the relative position of skimmer and nozzle can influence the beam properties considerably. Here we present the design and implementation of a new molecular beam source, which allows an automatized, 50 nm precision positioning of the skimmer relative to the nozzle. The source is liquid nitrogen cooled and the temperature can be controlled between 110 K and 350 K with a temperature fluctuation of less than ±0.1 K over several hours. Beam intensity measurements using a 5 μm nozzle and a skimmer 5 μm in diameter are presented for stagnation pressures po in the range 3-180 bars. A 2D beam profile scan, using a 9.5 μm skimmer and a 5 μm nozzle is presented as a further documentation of the versatility of the new design and as an illustration of the influence of the relative skimmer-nozzle position on the beam properties.

Nucleation and growth of thin films of rod-like conjugated molecules

Thin films formed from small molecules are rapidly gaining importance in different technological fields. To explain their growth, methods developed for zero-dimensional atoms as the film-forming particles are applied. However, in organic thin-film growth the dimensionality of the building blocks comes into play. Using the special case of the model molecule para-Sexiphenyl, we will emphasize the challenges that arise from the anisotropic and one-dimensional nature of building blocks. Differences or common features with other rod-like molecules will be discussed. The typical morphologies encountered for this group of molecules and the relevant growth modes will be investigated. Special attention is given to the transition between a flat-lying and upright orientation of the building blocks during nucleation. We will further discuss methods to control the molecular orientation and describe the involved diffusion processes qualitatively and quantitatively.

Coupling scanning tunneling microscope and supersonic molecular beams: a unique tool for in situ investigation of the morphology of activated systems

We report here on a new experimental apparatus combining a commercial low temperature scanning tunneling microscope with a supersonic molecular beam. This setup provides a unique tool for the in situ investigation of the topography of activated adsorption systems and opens thus new interesting perspectives. It has been tested towards the formation of the O/Ag(110) added rows reconstruction and of their hydroxylation, comparing data recorded upon O(2) exposure at thermal and hyperthermal energies.

Selective growth of α-sexithiophene by using silicon oxides patterns

A process for fabricating ordered organic films on large area is presented. The process allows growing sexithiophene ultra-thin films at precise locations on patterned Si/SiO(x) substrates by driving the orientation of growth. This process combines the parallel local anodic oxidation of Si/SiO(x) substrates with the selective arrangement of molecular ultra-thin film. The former is used to fabricate silicon oxide arrays of parallel lines of 400 nm in width over an area of 1 cm(2). Selective growth arises from the interplay between kinetic growth parameters and preferential interactions with the patterned surface. The result is an ultra-thin film of organic molecules that is conformal to the features of the fabricated motives.

Coverage dependent adsorption dynamics in hyperthermal organic thin film growth

We have examined the dynamics of adsorption of diindenoperylene (DIP) on SiO(2) and SiO(2) modified with an interfacial organic layer using in situ real time synchrotron x-ray scattering, focusing on the effects of coverage. On both surfaces we observe a substantial increase in the probability of adsorption with increasing coverage, which is most dramatic at the highest incident kinetic energies. On the initially uncovered surfaces, we observe a smooth decrease in the probability of adsorption with increasing incident kinetic energy, indicative of trapping-mediated adsorption. Once both surfaces are covered by DIP, the effects of incident kinetic energy are greatly reduced, and trapping is very efficient over the range of kinetic energies examined. Possible reasons for efficient trapping at high coverage and at high incident kinetic energy include more efficient momentum transfer due to mass matching, and possibly direct molecular insertion. Comparison to results on another small-molecule, pentacene, suggests that this behavior should be common to hyperthermal growth of a variety of other small-molecule thin films.

Three-dimensional molecular packing of thin organic films of PTCDI-C8 determined by surface X-ray diffraction

We have determined the full molecular 3D packing of thin organic films of the archetypical organic n-type semiconductor N, N'-dioctyl-3,4:9,10-perylene tetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI-C 8) by surface X-ray crystallography. We show that PTCDI-C 8 forms smooth layered films on Al 2O 3 (11-20) with an outstanding degree of molecular order. The thin-film structure is found to consist of a triclinic unit cell with the plane of the aromatic core tilted by 67 +/- 2 degrees with respect to the surface plane, which differs significantly from the bulk structure. The 3D crystallites extend with vertical coherent order across the entire film thickness.

Organic electronic devices and their functional interfaces

A most appealing feature of the development of (opto)electronic devices based on conjugated organic materials is the highly visible link between fundamental research and technological advances. Improved understanding of organic material properties can often instantly be implemented in novel device architectures, which results in rapid progress in the performance and functionality of devices. An essential ingredient for this success is the strong interdisciplinary nature of the field of organic electronics, which brings together experts in chemistry, physics, and engineering, thus softening or even removing traditional boundaries between the disciplines. Naturally, a thorough comprehension of all properties of organic insulators, semiconductors, and conductors is the goal of current efforts. Furthermore, interfaces between dissimilar materials-organic/organic and organic/inorganic-are inherent in organic electronic devices. It has been recognized that these interfaces are a key for device function and efficiency, and detailed investigations of interface physics and chemistry are at the focus of research. Ultimately, a comprehensive understanding of phenomena at interfaces with organic materials will improve the rational design of highly functional organic electronic devices.