Real time monitoring of pentacene growth on SiO2 from a supersonic source

Thin film growth of pentacene on SiO2 using a supersonic source has been investigated with in situ real time synchrotron x-ray scattering and ex situ atomic force microscopy, focusing on the effects of incident kinetic energy Ei and growth rate GR on the evolution of surface roughness and the crystalline structure of the thin films. For the conditions examined here, Ei=2.5–7.2eV and GR=0.0015–0.2MLs−1, the thin film phase is always observed. We find that while the effect of Ei on interlayer transport is minimal, at high growth rates, slightly smoother films are observed.