Molecules on insulating films: scanning-tunneling microscopy imaging of individual molecular orbitals.

Sub-monolayer film growth of a volatile lanthanide complex on metallic surfaces

We deposited a volatile lanthanide complex, tris(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato)terbium(III), onto metal surfaces of Cu(111), Ag(111) and Au(111) in vacuum and observed well-ordered sub-monolayer films with low temperature (5 K) scanning tunneling microscopy. The films show a distorted three-fold symmetry with a commensurate structure. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals molecular o...

Probing superexchange interaction in molecular magnets by spin-flip spectroscopy and microscopy.

The superexchange mechanism in cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) thin films was studied by a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. The CoPc molecules were found to form one-dimensional antiferromagnetic chains in the film. Collective spin excitations in individual molecular chains were measured with spin-flip associated inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy. By spatially mapping the spi...

High resolution scanning-tunneling-microscopy imaging of individual molecular orbitals by eliminating the effect of surface charge

Molecular structure of extended defects in monolayer-scale pentacene thin films

The growth of pentacene thin films for applications in thin-film transistors and other organic electronic devices results in a variety of extended structural defects including dislocations, grain boundaries, and stacking faults. We have used scanning tunneling microscopy STM to probe the molecular-scale structure of grain boundaries and stacking faults in a pentacene thin film on a Si 001 surfa...

Apparent Reversal of Molecular Orbitals Reveals Entanglement.

The frontier orbital sequence of individual dicyanovinyl-substituted oligothiophene molecules is studied by means of scanning tunneling microscopy. On NaCl/Cu(111), the molecules are neutral, and the two lowest unoccupied molecular states are observed in the expected order of increasing energy. On NaCl/Cu(311), where the molecules are negatively charged, the sequence of two observed molecular o...