Revealing surface oxidation on the organic semi-conducting single crystal rubrene with time of flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy.

To address the question of surface oxidation in organic electronics the chemical composition at the surface of single crystalline rubrene is spatially profiled and analyzed using Time of Flight - Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS). It is seen that a uniform oxide (C42H28O) covers the surface while there is an increased concentration of peroxide (C42H28O2) located at crystallographic defects. By analyzing the effects of different primary ions, temperature and sputtering agents the technique of ToF-SIMS is developed as a valuable tool for the study of chemical composition variance both at and below the surface of organic single crystals.