Real-time observation on surface diffusion and molecular orientations for phthalocyanine thin films at nanometer spacial resolution

The morphology, electronic structure and ordering of the phthalocyanine thin films have been investigated at nanometer scale by photoelectron emission microscopy (PEEM) excited by polarized soft X-rays from synchrotron light source. The sample investigated was micropattern of silicon phthalocyanine deposited on gold surface. The incident angle dependences of the X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectra at the silicon K-edge revealed that the molecules of 5-layered films are lying nearly flat on the surface. Clear image of the micropattern was observed by PEEM, showing that the molecules are deposited via Volmer–Weber (VW) mode at room temperature. While, the surface diffusion was observed upon heating, and the micropattern image almost disappeared at 240 °C, representing the deposition mode changes from VW-mode to Frank–van der Merwe (FM)-one. On the basis of the photon-energy dependences of the brightnesses in the PEEM images, it was found that the molecules diffusing to the fresh gold surface rather stand-up at 240 °C. The observed changes in the molecular orientations at nanometer domains are discussed on the basis of the strengths of the molecule–molecule and molecule–surface interactions.