Ordered Porphyrin Arrays on Fe(001): An Enabling Technology for Future Spintronics

We give evidence of the formation of an ordered array of tetra-phenyl porphyrins (TPP) when these molecules are deposited on top of oxygen-passivated Fe(001), namely the Fe(001)-p(1 × 1)O surface. We also prove that they are magnetically coupled with the substrate. The ordered molecular packing, together with the magnetic coupling, are fundamental conditions for application in organic spintronic devices. The system is studied by means of spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopies and scanning tunneling microscopy.