Chemistry and electronic properties of metal-organic semiconductor interfaces: Al, Ti, In, Sn, Ag, and Au on PTCDA

The chemistry and electronic properties of interfaces formed between thin films of the archetype molecular organic semiconductor 3, 3, 9, 10 perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) and reactive and nonreactive metals are investigated via synchrotron radiation photoemission spectroscopy. In, Al, Ti, and Sn react at room temperature with the anhydride group of the PTCDA molecule, producing heavily oxidized interface metal species and thick interfacial layers with a high density of states in the PTCDA band gap. The penetration of the reactive metal species in the PTCDA film is found to be inversely related to their first ionization energy. The noble metals Ag and Au form abrupt, unreacted interfaces. The chemical and structural results correlate well with the electrical properties of the interfaces that show Ohmic behavior with the reactive metal contacts and blocking characteristics with the noble metals. The Ohmic behavior of the reactive metal contacts is ascribed to carrier hopping and/or tunneling through the reaction-induced interface states.