The properties of Shockley-type interface states between π -conjugated organic molecular layers and metal surfaces are investigated by time-resolved two-photon photoemission experiments and density functional theory. For perylene-and naphthalene-tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride (PTCDA and NTCDA) adsorbed on Ag(111), a common mechanism of formation of the interface state from the partly occupied surface state of the bare Ag (111) is revealed. The energy position is found to be strongly dependent on the distance of the molecular carbon rings from the metal and their surface density. Bending of the carboxyl groups enhances the molecular overlap of the interface state. The energetic position and wave function overlap of electronic states at the interface between layers of organic molecules and metals is of fundamental interest for the design of organic semiconductor devices and for future applications of molecular electronics. Previous studies, both experimentally and theoretically, concentrated on those electronic states that either result directly from the chemical bonding at the interface or from the shift and broadening of localized molecular orbitals upon interaction with the metal substrate.1-8 However, also states intrinsic to metal surfaces are affected by adsorption and can become an important factor for the electronic coupling between metal and organic molecules. This has recently become apparent for 3,4,9,10-perylene-tetracarboxylicacid-dianhydride (PTCDA) on Ag(111), a structurally very well characterized model system for the interface between π -conjugated organic molecular layers and metals.4 A dispersing, free-electron-like electronic state located 0.6 eV above the Fermi level was observed by tunneling spectroscopy 9 and by two-photon photoemission (2PPE). 10,11 It originates from the Shockley state of the Ag(111) surface which is upshifted from below the metallic Fermi level by as much as 0.7 eV. The initially partially occupied state becomes unoccupied and approaches the conduction band of the organic semiconductor. [11][12][13] In this Rapid Communication we address the question which properties of the molecule-surface interaction determine the energetic position of such Shockley-type interface states (IS) and which factors facilitate a large overlap of the state with the molecular layer in order to tailor the degree of electronic coupling. For rare-gas adsorbates on noble metals it is well established that their adsorption also leads to an upshift of the Shockley state, albeit by much smaller values, and that the shift increases systematically from the weakly bound Ar to the more strongly interacting Xe.14,15 The comparison of our 2PPE experiments for 1,4,5,8-naphthalene-tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride (NTCDA) on Ag(111) with PTCDA/Ag(111) shows an analogous trend. The structurally similar, but smaller NTCDA molecules cause a smaller IS upshift than the larger PTCDA molecules. The time-resolved 2PPE data indicate a similar overlap of the wave function with the metal in both cases. Density functio...