Unravelling the multilayer growth of the fullerene C-60 in real time

作者：Bommel S; Kleppmann N; Weber C; Spranger H; Schaefer P; Novak J; Roth S V; Schreiber F; Klapp S H L; Kowarik S^*

来源：Nature Communications, 2014, 5(1): 5388.

DOI：10.1038/ncomms6388

Molecular semiconductors are increasingly used in devices, but understanding of elementary nanoscopic processes in molecular film growth is in its infancy. Here we use real-time in situ specular and diffuse X-ray scattering in combination with kinetic Monte Carlo simulations to study C-60 nucleation and multilayer growth. We determine a self-consistent set of energy parameters describing both intra- and interlayer diffusion processes in C-60 growth. This approach yields an effective Ehrlich-Schwoebel barrier of E-ES = 110 meV, diffusion barrier of E-D = 540 meV and binding energy of E-B = 130 meV. Analysing the particle-resolved dynamics, we find that the lateral diffusion is similar to colloids, but characterized by an atom-like Schwoebel barrier. Our results contribute to a fundamental understanding of molecular growth processes in a system, which forms an important intermediate case between atoms and colloids.

• 出版日期2014-11