Epitaxial Growth of Pentacene Films on Metal Surfaces

The right temperature for growth: High quality, epitaxial pentacene thin films were grown on Cu(110) by applying a two-step growth procedure, which involves the formation (using organic molecular beam epitaxy) of a complete monolayer at elevated temperatures followed by multilayer deposition at reduced temperatures. The organic films prepared (see picture) using this approach have their molecular axes orientated perpendicular to the substrate surface and are promising for the fabrication of lateral field effect transistors (FETs).