Influence of substrate morphology on organic layer growth: PTCDA on Ag(1 1 1)

By UV-excited photoelectron emission microscopy (UV-PEEM) we investigated the microscopic growth behavior of organic thin films using 3,4,9,10-perylene-tetracarboxylicacid dianhydride (PTCDA) on a Ag(111) single crystal substrate as example. Direct, real time observation allows to correlate the initial growth modes and the related kinetic parameters with substrate properties like terrace width, step density, and step bunches from the submonolayer range up to 5 layers or more. Above room temperature PTCDA grows in a Stranski–Krastanov fashion: after completion of the first two stable layers three-dimensional islands are formed. The nucleation density strongly depends on the temperature and the substrate morphology thus affecting the properties of the organic film.