Transfer-arm evaporator cell for rapid loading and deposition of organic thin films

Described herein is a transfer-arm evaporator cell (TAE-cell), which allows for rapid loading of materials into vacuum for low-temperature sublimation deposition of thin films. This design can be incorporated with an existing analysis system for convenient in situ thin film characterization. This evaporator is especially well suited for photoemission characterization of organic semiconductor interfaces. Photoemission is one of the most important techniques for characterizing such, however, it generally requires in situ sample preparation. The ease with which materials can be loaded and evaporated with this design increases the throughput of in situ photoemission characterization, and broadens the research scope of the technique. Here, we describe the design, operation, and performance of the TAE-cell. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3265993]