A three-step process for epitaxial growth of (111)-oriented C60 films on alkali–halide substrates

Epitaxial (111)-oriented C₆₀ films have been grown on alkali–halide substrates, KCl (100), KBr (100) and NaCl (100) by a three-step process: (1), substrate surface cleaning by high temperature heating; (2), initial deposition with a low deposition rate to grow two or three monolayers (ML); and (3), deposition with a high deposition rate to grow a film with expected thickness. It was found that (111)-oriented epitaxial C₆₀ films could be grown at low temperatures in a wide temperature range, from 40 to 120°C. By this three-step process, we can also grow epitaxial C₆₀ films at deposition rates as high as 35 Å/min.