Effects of substrate temperature on the film characteristics and gas-sensing properties of copper phthalocyanine films

Copper phthalocyanine thin films were prepared by vacuum deposition at vari ous substrate temperatures onto glass and gold. The effects of substrate te mperature and material on film morphology and crystalline structure were st udied, and the film characteristics were related to their gas-sensing prope rties for NO2. We find that CuPc films have fine-grain morphology and small degree of crystallization at low substrate temperature (T-d = 28 degreesC) . When T-d is elevated to 100 degreesC, fiber-like morphology was observed on both substrates, with orientation mainly parallel to the substrate. At 1 50-200 degreesC, the fibers grow larger without significant change of orien tation on glass, but whisker structures with less order were formed on gold . The fiber-like structure prepared at 100 degreesC has the highest electri cal conductivity, which also implies that the stacking axis of the Pc macro cycle is the high conductivity direction. This characteristic also leads to quick response and higher sensitivity of this film to NO2. The effects of substrate temperature on the film characteristics and gas-sensing propertie s are compared to the heat-annealing effects observed in our previous work. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.