AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Surface Science Thursday Sessions
       Session SS2+EM-ThM

Invited Paper SS2+EM-ThM3
A Survey on the Structural Properties of Alkanethiols Self Assembling on Au(111)

Thursday, November 16, 2006, 8:40 am, Room 2004

Session: Self-Assembled Monolayers
Presenter: E. Barrena, Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Spain
Authors: E. Barrena, Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Spain
C. Munuera, Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Spain
C. Ocal, Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Spain
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The potential application of Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAMs) in different fields of both science and technology has motivated a large number of studies in recent years. It has become clear that the design of films with specific controlled properties requires a better understanding of the parameters governing the self-assembling process. Without doubt Alkanethiols (SH-(CH@sub 2@)@sub n-1@-CH@sub 3@ on Au(111) are the archetypal systems among SAMs. They posses important characteristics as stability, structural simplicity and well-defined order, which make them ideal for understanding the role that the fundamental interactions play in determining the self-assembled structure. In spite of their simplicity, a rich spectrum of structures has been reported. In this talk I will present a survey on the structural properties of Alkanethiols on Au(111) mainly focused on the submonolayer regime. I will show that molecular configurations consisting of molecules presenting different tilt angles and periodicities are formed for submonolayer coverage with an extraordinary degree of order. Experimental studies carried out by combining Atomic Force Microscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements will be presented showing different aspects on their growth, structure, stability including chain length dependent investigations.