Sb mediated C60 film growth on mica, Si, and glass substrates

Abstract

The structure and growth morphology of Sb mediated C60 films, prepared by predepositing a layer of surfactant Sb over mica(001), Si(111), and glass substrates with the vacuum vapor deposition method, were studied along with pristine C60 films by an atomic force microscope. It was found that the growth behavior of C60 films was greatly affected by the substrate temperature. On the mica substrate, the average size of C60 crystal grains in Sb mediated C60 films was about two times larger than that in pristine C60 films. On Si and glass substrates, the predeposited Sb had no significant effect on the size of the C60 crystal grains, but made C60 films grow more easily especially at high substrate temperatures. Possible growth mechanisms of the Sb mediated C60 films are proposed.