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