Crystal growth of C60 thin films on layered substrates

Abstract

The process of the C60 thin film crystal growth on layered materials such as MoS2 and mica is studied in detail with a combination of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and reflection high-energy electron diffractometry, and is compared to that on alkali-halide (NaCl) substrates. AFM shows that a single crystal containing triangle-shaped grains of 1–2 μm size with a (111) surface terrace is grown on the MoS2 substrate over a large area through a layer-by-layer process, while the grains on mica are 200–400 nm in size and distribute with some disorder in the orientation. The epitaxial characteristics of the C60 crystal growth on these layered substrates are discussed in comparison with that on alkali-halides.