Tailoring the Morphology and Dewetting of an Organic Thin Film

Methods of tailoring molecular thin film morphology and maturation rate were investigated by noncontact atomic force microscopy. Submonolayer coverages of 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic diimide deposited on alkali-halides form films of needle-shaped islands, and undergo a dewetting transition when...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of physical chemistry. C Vol. 115; no. 1; pp. 217 - 224
Main Authors Topple, J. M, Burke, S. A, Ji, W, Fostner, S, Tekiel, A, Grütter, P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published American Chemical Society 13.01.2011
Subjects
C: Surfaces, Interfaces, Catalysis
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Summary:Methods of tailoring molecular thin film morphology and maturation rate were investigated by noncontact atomic force microscopy. Submonolayer coverages of 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic diimide deposited on alkali-halides form films of needle-shaped islands, and undergo a dewetting transition when deposited on NaCl. The resulting island surface distribution, size, shape, and rate of dewetting may be varied by changing growth conditions such as temperature and by templating the substrate with single atomic layer deep pits or depositing gold nanoclusters to modify island nucleation. This characterization is an important step in controlling the structure of thin organic films for devices that are sensitive to nanoscale film structure.
ISSN:1932-7447
1932-7455
DOI:10.1021/jp107644u