Controlling the early stages of pentacene growth by supersonic molecular beam deposition

The key role of the pentacene kinetic energy (E-k) in the early stages of growth on SiOx/Si is demonstrated: islands with smooth borders and increased coalescence differ remarkably from fractal-like thermal growth. Increasing E-k to 6.4 eV, the morphology evolves towards higher density of smaller islands. At higher coverage, coalescence grows with E-k up to a much more uniform, less defected monolayer. The growth, interpreted by the diffusion mediated model, shows the critical nucleus changing from 3 to 2 pentacene for E-k > 5-6 eV. Optimal conditions to produce single crystalline films are envisaged.