title: Comparative Study of Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy to Assess Self-assembled Monolayer Coverage on Any Type of Substrate.
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.
authors.affiliation: Analytical Instrumentation Facility, North Carolina State University, Box 7531, Raleigh, NC 27695
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Neves
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Salmon
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Troughton