Various Cu-phthalocyanine (CuPc) films were grown from physical vapor deposition on top of indium-tinoxide glass substrates by controlling substrate temperature (T sub ), source temperature (T sou ), and growth time. From side-view SEM pictures, the growth rates for these CuPc films are estimated and can be categorized into three regions. From the Arrhenius plot of growth rate versus 1/T sub , the activation energy E A can be obtained. As T sou = 390 °C, for region (A) with T sub < 140 °C, the growth of CuPc films is dominated by the adhesion process with E A = 810 meV. For region (B) with 140 °C < T sub < 320 °C, the growth is then limited by the steric character associated with the organic molecular solids with E A = 740 meV. For region (C) with T sub > 320 °C, the re-evaporation of the CuPc adhered molecules from the interface becomes dominant.

In the present work, sensing of ethanol on the ZnO thin films doped with Fe (5-50%) have been investigated. Nature of the sensing species in the nanosize Fe-doped ZnO (FeZnO) thin films has also been studied by in situ extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy. By XRD, it is found that ZnO and ZnFe2O4 are the main compounds in the ZnO-Fe thin films. The thin film containing 5% of Fe has a high sensitivity (Rair/Rethanol>80) when sensing of ethanol at 300 K. On the contrary, the thin films with Fe fractions of 20-50% have a very low sensitivity to ethanol (Rair/Rethanol<15). In the presence of ethanol, the EXAFS spectra show that the bond distances of Zn-O and Fe-O in the thin films are 1.90 and 1.98 Å, respectively and restored to 1.91 and 1.97 Å in the absence of ethanol.