Scanning Tunneling Microscopy of Template-Stripped Au Surfaces and Highly Ordered Self-Assembled Monolayers

• Published in: Langmuir Vol. 24; no. 12; pp. 5984 - 5987
• Main Authors: Lee, Sangyeob, Bae, Sung-Soo, Medeiros-Ribeiro, Gilberto, Blackstock, Jason J, Kim, Sehun, Stewart, Duncan R, Ragan, Regina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 17.06.2008
• Subjects: Chemistry; Chemistry, Physical - methods; Colloidal state and disperse state; Electrochemistry - methods; Equipment Design; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Gold - chemistry; Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling - instrumentation; Microscopy, Scanning Tunneling - methods; Molecular Structure; Particle Size; Silicon - chemistry; Surface physical chemistry; Surface Properties; Temperature; Time Factors; Self assembly; Monolayer; Vapor; Molecular structure; Film; In situ; Template; Substrate; Scanning tunneling microscopy; Vapor phase; Clean surface; Preparation; Ultrahigh vacuum; Superlattice
• ISSN: 0743-7463; 1520-5827
• DOI: 10.1021/la800265q

Template stripping of Au films in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) produces atomically flat and pristine surfaces that serve as substrates for highly ordered self-assembled monolayer (SAM) formation. Atomic resolution scanning tunneling microscopy of template-stripped (TS) Au stripped in UHV confirms that the stripping process produces a flat, predominantly 〈111〉 textured, atomically clean surface. Octanethiol SAMs vapor deposited in situ onto UHV TS Au show a c(4 × 2) superlattice with (√3 × √3)R30° basic molecular structure having an ordered domain size up to 100 nm wide. These UHV results validate the TS Au surface as a simple, clean and high-quality surface preparation method for SAMs deposited from both vapor phase and solution phase.