Thickness-driven orthorhombic to triclinic phase transformation in pentacene thin films

Pentacene films are thermally evaporated onto amorphous carbon-coated mica substrates held at room temperature. The crystal structure and morphology of the films are analyzed using electron microscopy and diffraction, and a new orthorhombic structure is characterized for films below a critical thickness (see Figure). Evidence that the orthorhombic structure is thermodynamically stable at low film thickness due to its low (001) surface energy is obtained.