Anisotropic crystalline organic step-flow growth on deactivated Si surfaces

We report the first demonstration of anisotropic step-flow growth of organic molecules on a semiconducting substrate using metal phthalocyanine thermally deposited on the deactivated Si(111)-B sqrt[3]×sqrt[3] R30° surface. With scanning probe microscopy and geometric modeling, we prove the quasiepitaxial nature of this step-flow growth that exhibits no true commensurism, despite a single dominant long-range ordered relationship between the organic crystalline film and the substrate, uniquely distinct from inorganic epitaxial growth. This growth mode can likely be generalized for a range of organic molecules on deactivated Si surfaces and access to it offers new potential for the integration of ordered organic thin films in silicon-based electronics.