Abstract: In this work, we show how field emission–scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) can be a useful tool for the study of self-assembled monolayer systems. We have carried out a comparative study using FE-SEM and atomic force microscopy (AFM) to assess the morphology and coverage of self-assembled monolayers (SAM) on different substrates. The results show that FE-SEM images present the same qualitative information obtained by AFM images when the SAM is deposited on a smooth substrate (e.g., mica). Further experiments with rough substrates (e.g., Al grains on glass) show that FE-SEM is capable of unambiguously identifying SAMs on any type of substrate, whereas AFM has significant difficulties in identifying SAMs on rough surfaces.
Visualization by atomic force microscopy of tobacco mosaic virus movement protein–RNA complexes formed in vitro