title: The mechanical response of gold substrates passivated by self-assembling monolayer films.
abstract: Interfacial force microscopy has been used to show that a single layer of self-assembling molecules adsorbed on a gold substrate can prevent adhesion between gold and a tungsten probe. The passivated gold is able to elastically support large repulsive loads, with plots of load versus deformation closely following the Hertzian model. The gold shear-stress threshold for plastic deformation is determined to be approximately 1 gigapascal, which is in agreement with the theoretical value for the intrinsic gold-lattice stability.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Houston
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Michalske
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Crooks