AVS 51st International Symposium
    Surface Science Thursday Sessions
       Session SS3-ThM

Paper SS3-ThM9
Structural Damage of Self-Assembled Monolayers Induced by 5-eV O@super +@ Bombardment

Thursday, November 18, 2004, 11:00 am, Room 213B

Session: Halogen and Oxygen Surface Reactions and Etching
Presenter: T.D. Tzvetkov, University of Notre Dame
Authors: T.D. Tzvetkov, University of Notre Dame
X. Qin, University of Notre Dame
D.C. Jacobs, University of Notre Dame
Correspondent: Click to Email
Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAM) of decanethiol/Au(111) are bombarded with 5-eV O@super +@ ions in UHV. XPS reveals that the carbon content of the SAM decreases, while the oxygen content increases with O@super +@ dose. STM images of ion-exposed and unexposed regions of the SAM are compared. The SAM layer exhibits greater disorder after only modest doses of 5-eV O@super +@ ions. Initially, ion-induced damage occurs predominantly near domain boundaries, surface steps, and vacancies. In contrast, large defect-free surface domains show considerable stability against 5-eV O@super +@ bombardment. A mechanism for degradation of the SAM by low-energy O@super +@ ions is proposed.