Optical properties and electrical transport of thin films of terbium(III) bis(phthalocyanine) on cobalt

Abstract

SummaryThe optical and electrical properties of terbium(III) bis(phthalocyanine) (TbPc2) films on cobalt substrates were studied using variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE) and current sensing atomic force microscopy (cs-AFM). Thin films of TbPc2 with a thickness between 18 nm and 87 nm were prepared by organic molecular beam deposition onto a cobalt layer grown by electron beam evaporation. The molecular orientation of the molecules on the metallic film was estimated from the analysis of the spectroscopic ellipsometry data. A detailed analysis of the AFM topography shows that the TbPc2 films consist of islands which increase in size with the thickness of the organic film. Furthermore, the cs-AFM technique allows local variations of the organic film topography to be correlated with electrical transport properties. Local current mapping as well as local I–V spectroscopy shows that despite the granular structure of the films, the electrical transport is uniform through the organic films on the microscale. The AFM-based electrical measurements allow the local charge carrier mobility of the TbPc2 thin films to be quantified with nanoscale resolution.

Formation of ferromagnetic molecular thin films from blends by annealing

“…Due to the combination of both α- and β-phases, the diffraction peak has been fitted to two Lorentz functions centred at 2θ = 7.03° and 7.16° leading to FWHMs of 0.20° and 0.21°, respectively. The values correspond to a grain size of 45 ± 5 nm, which is in agreement with the values of phthalocyanine films previously deposited at room temperature [ 16 , 21 ], correlates with the smooth morphology and is much lower than the value of the β-MnPc films generated from the blended film.…”

Tuning the magneto-optical response of TbPc2 single molecule magnets by the choice of the substrate

“…9,37 Table 2. 14 . For the determination of the molecular orientation reported in Table 2 synchrotron based methods, i.e.…”

Molecular lanthanide single-ion magnets: from bulk to submonolayers

“…The interesting optical properties of some SIMs have not been further addressed yet apart from the study of absorption and luminescence spectra to understand the energy levels of SIMs in very few studies up to now. Studies reporting optical properties of surface-deposited SIMs are scarce [183,184].…”