Molecular Self-organization and Growth

FOR 1878: funCOS - Funktionale molekulare Strukturen auf komplexen Oxidoberflächen

funCOS 4 aims at a deeper understanding of the basic processes in the formation of differently prepared organic thin films on various oxide surfaces (single crystal substrates, nanostructured oxides, amorphous substrates). This includes aspects of interactions, in particular the interplay of intermolecular interactions and molecule-substrate interactions, which are governing the growth of ultrathin organic films. Utilizing probes, which offer information ranging from the atomic to the mesoscopic length scale, the structural properties of adsorbed organic films from the submonolayer to the multilayer regime can be accessed. Diffraction techniques (XRD/LEED) deliver structural information with accuracies better than 0.01 nm, and in-situ studies can make visible the film growth kinetics. Various microscopy techniques (PEEM, STXM, LEEM) shall be employed to provide the growth mode (layer vs. island vs. random growth) and film formation kinetics in real space with resolutions on the mesoscopic length scale, i.e. from lateral dimensions ranging from 20 nm to 10.000 nm. The project will bridge the gap from model systems prepared under ultrahigh vacuum conditions to molecular depositions from solvents thus offering potential pathways to prepare highly ordered molecular systems without costly hardware. Specifically, we will explore the formation of structures of adsorbed/chemisorbed ultrathin films (perpendicular and lateral structures, molecular orientation), structural properties of the molecule-oxide interface, impact of defect structures, density and thickness dependent structural relaxations, film growth modes, nucleation and long-range interactions, and kinetic parameters for the film formation.