GROWTH OF CRYSTALLITES CONSISTING OF C-60 MOLECULES ON HEATED (100)MO

The initial stages of growth of films of C-60 molecules On a (100)Mo s urface are studied by high-resolution Auger spectroscopy and atomic fo rce microscopy under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. It is shown that at T < 750 K, after a specific coating with molecular density 1.5 x 10(14 ) cm(-2), which the authors term a high-temperature (HT) monolayer, ha s formed on the surface, crystallites in the form of ''towers'' with h at tops grow on the surface. The fraction of the area occupied by towe rs depends strongly on the substrate temperature and the flux density of the molecules on the surface but is virtually independent of the ex posure time. At temperatures T > 760 K the C-60 molecules making up th e crystallites desorb, while the molecules making up the HT monolayer decompose, and the carbon released is dissolved in the interior of the substrate. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.