AVS 49th International Symposium
    Surface Science Wednesday Sessions
       Session SS1-WeA

Paper SS1-WeA4
Degradation of Alkanethiol Self Assembled Monolayers under Hyperthermal O@super +@ Bombardment

Wednesday, November 6, 2002, 3:00 pm, Room C-108

Session: Gas-Surface Dynamics
Presenter: T. Tzvetkov, University of Notre Dame
Authors: T. Tzvetkov, University of Notre Dame
X. Qin, University of Notre Dame
D.C. Jacobs, University of Notre Dame
Correspondent: Click to Email
We present experimental results on the reaction of 5-20eV O@super +@ with alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). Decanethiol or 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorodecanethiol are used to form well-ordered SAMs on a clean gold surface. Scattered ionic products, formed as a result of hyperthermal O@super +@ ion bombardment, are collected with angle-, energy-, and mass-resolution. Chemical modifications in the SAM layer are monitored by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Efficient removal of H from alkanethiol SAMs is observed at all incident energies. With increasing collision energy, C-C bond cleavage becomes important, as various scattered species of C@sub n@H@sub m@ or C@sub n@F@sub m@ radicals are observed, and the stoichiometry of the irradiated SAM is altered. The experimental results help us to understand the mechanisms of polymer degradation under O@super +@ bombardment at hyperthermal incident energies.