Real time monitoring of pentacene growth on SiO2 from a supersonic source

Thin film growth of pentacene on SiO2 using a supersonic source has been investigated with in situ real time synchrotron x-ray scattering and ex situ atomic force microscopy, focusing on the effects of incident kinetic energy E-i and growth rate GR on the evolution of surface roughness and the crystalline structure of the thin films. For the conditions examined here, E-i=2.5-7.2 eV and GR=0.0015-0.2 ML s(-1), the thin film phase is always observed. We find that while the effect of E-i on interlayer transport is minimal, at high growth rates, slightly smoother films are observed. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.