[en] Thin films of pentacene (C₂₂H₁₄) have become widely used in the field of organic electronics. Here films of C₂₂H₁₄ of thickness ranging from submonolayer to multilayer were thermally deposited on Ag(1 1 1) surface. The determination of molecular geometry in pentacene films on Ag(1 1 1) studied by X-ray absorption at different stages of growth up to one monolayer is presented. XAS spectra at the C K-edge were collected as a function of the direction of the electric field at the surface. The different features of the spectra were assigned to resonances related to the various molecular unoccupied states by the comparison with the absorption coefficient of the pentacene gas phase. The transitions involving antibonding π states show a pronounced angular dependence for all the measured coverages, from submonolayer to multilayer. The spectra analysis indicates a nearly planar chemisorption of the first pentacene layer with a tilt angle of 10^o

[en] The article describes the ESCA microscopy beamline dedicated to high spatial resolution quantitative and qualitative analysis on surfaces and interfaces. The scanning microscope is constructed to work both in transmission and photoemission within the photon energy range from 200 to 1200 eV with a spatial resolution of ∼0.1 μm. A Fresnel zone plate demagnifies the photon beam to submicrometer dimensions with 10⁹--10¹⁰ photons/s in the focus spot. A photodiode and a hemispherical electron energy analyzer are used as detectors for recording the transmitted x-rays and emitted photoelectrons, respectively. The operation modes in photoemission give the opportunity to obtain conventional energy distribution curve spectra from a microspot or a two-dimensional micrograph of the spatial distribution and local concentration of a selected element as the sample is mechanically scanned. For conductive specimen topography measurements of a selected surface area probed by SPEM are possible using a scanning tunnelling microscope. The first test images of a zone plate and an e-beam written specimen with 1 μm² Au squares on Si have shown a spatial resolution better than 0.2 μm. copyright 1995 American Institute of Physics