Atomic force microscopy studies of microstructure and properties of self-assembled monolayers

Self-assembled monolayers are unique structures and have received considerable attention from microscopists seeking to image the predicted molecular level structure. More recently, practical engineering applications of SAMs have been proposed in areas ranging from corrosion barriers to adhesion promoters to lithographic resists. While some of the applications of interest, most notably the lithographic resists, can be developed on substrates close to the ideal; such as single crystal Si wafers or thin epitaxial films; many others will require the coating of very non-ideal surfaces. These may range from materials such as Al or ferrous based metals to engineering polymeric materials. In this study we have taken a two-pronged approach to develop reliable systematic atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques for the determination of both microstructure and properties of SAMs on various substrates of interest.We have chosen to investigate n-alkanethiols (SH-(CH2)n-1-CH3) on single crystal gold as our reference system for technique development.