Molecular Nanostructures onto Functionalized Semiconductor Surfaces: an In-situ Atomic Force Microscopy Study

Author

Department of Materials Science and Engineering,Budapest University of Technology & Econamics

Abstract

The growth of submonolayer metallic or molecular nanostructures via ion-beam sputtering
onto reconstructed semiconductor surfaces, followed by in-situ scanning probe imaging of the
formed nanostructures, give an interesting insight into developing new molecular multifunctional nanoarchitectured
materials for various applications. The case of pentacene, as one of the most important
candidates in the eld of organic thin lm electronics, molecules and also Au metallic nanostructures,
deposited in the submonolayer regime onto a reconstructed InP (0 0 1) surface, is discussed in view of
the observed growth modes, structure and topology. During initial stages of growth, a uniaxial di usion
channel dominates, and long pentacene molecular chains self-organize parallel to the [110] crystallographic
direction on the InP surface. The study is performed by in-situ non-contact atomic force microscopy
investigations with atomic resolution. It is shown that the self-assembling of molecular structures onto
at
terraces is dependent on the
atness and orientation of the terraces reconstructed onto the semiconductor
surface. Moreover, it is possible to create functional molecular nano-architectures by nano-manipulation of
single molecules with the AFM tip. This procedure may have a large impact on technological applications,
such as organic TFT and molecular nanowires.

Keywords