Abstract
The 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.
Highlights
Molecular spintronic devices could bring a new era of information technology, as the materials are inexpensive and have a potentially higher efficiency than conventional electronic devices [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
In this work we focus on the study of other device-relevant aspects: the influence of the film thickness, morphology, and molecular orientation on the electrical transport in TbPc2 layers on polycrystalline cobalt films
In this work we present the optical, topographic and electrical properties of TbPc2 thin films on cobalt by utilizing ellipsometry and AFM techniques
Summary
Molecular spintronic devices could bring a new era of information technology, as the materials are inexpensive and have a potentially higher efficiency than conventional electronic devices [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. The present manuscript reveals the optical and electrical properties of TbPc2 films with different thicknesses on Co substrates as well as the molecular tilt angle and grain size distribution of the samples using spectroscopic ellipsometry, AC atomic force microscopy, and current sensing atomic force microscopy.
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