title: Structure and bonding issues at the interface between gold and self-assembled conjugated dithiol monolayers.
abstract: Organic thiols have received extensive attention recently because of their relative stability and ease of examination compared to other potential molecular electronic materials. In this work, scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is used to study (i) the structural properties of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) containing conjugated dithiols and (ii) the formation of the upper molecule-metal interface on dithiol SAMs. The top gold film is deposited either by thermal evaporation or by nano-transfer printing (nTP). Generally, the utility of thermal evaporation is limited because of Au diffusion through the SAMs. However, several dithiol SAMs are identified in this work that bond well to Au overlayers and act as satisfactory diffusion barriers. Coassembly of conjugated dithiols and alkanemonothiols is suggested as a route to obtain dithiols that are denser packed and more vertical (than is obtained from pure dithiol routes). High-yield nTP is demonstrated on coassembled SAMs. Advantages and limitations of different Au deposition and transfer techniques are compared on a variety of length scales.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA.
authors.forename: Weirong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Nikolai
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhitenev
authors.forename: Zhenan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Abusch-Magder
authors.forename: Don
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tennant
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Garfunkel
mesh_terms: D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties; D014050:Toluene / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D014050:Toluene; D006046:Gold; C004848:dithiol