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

• Hironari Isshiki,
• Jinjie Chen,
• Kevin Edelmann and
• Wulf Wulfhekel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2412–2416, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.248

• , Germany 10.3762/bjnano.6.248 Abstract 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

• contamination of the surface. This new rare-earth-based class of molecules broadens the choice of molecular magnets to study with scanning tunneling microscopy. Keywords: β-diketonate; molecular films; scanning tunneling microscopy; terbium; volatile lanthanide complex; Introduction Several carefully designed