Control of initial growth processes of epitaxial films using pulsed molecular beams

Abstract

Kinetics of epitaxial thin film growth was analyzed from the experiments using pulsed organic molecular beams. It was found that a minimum appears in the nucleation density as a function of on-off cycle time when the substrate temperature is near the threshold between growth and reevaporation. This feature can be explained by assuming desorption of molecules induced by mutual collision on the surface, for which orientation-sensitive intermolecular forces are responsible.