The interaction between vapor-deposited Al atoms and methylester-terminated self-assembled monolayers studied by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and infrared reflectance spectroscopy

The deposition of 2 Angstrom of Al metal onto a monolayer of methylester-terminated alkanethiolate(HS(CH2)(15)CO2CH3) self-assembled on polycrystalline Au(lll) was studied using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and infrared reflectance spectroscopy (IRS), The deposited Al was found to be highly reactive with the oxygen atoms in the self-assembled monolayer terminal functional group. No reactivity between Al and the methylene backbone of the monolayer was observed, nor was any Al observed at the monolayer/Au interface. However, the deposition of Al does induce some chain disordering. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.