Our data illustrate why SAMs have become excellent model systems for many phenomena in interfacial science. SAMs are not simply models, however. Increasing evdidence demonstrates that these organic monolayers provide the necessary resists for methods of fabrication like microcontact printing, that exploits wholly new concepts to achieve mesoscopic structures. This type of manipulation provides a basis for solving problems in the manufacturing of nanoscale devices and their use in a phlethora of derivative technologies with the attendant advantages of characteristically smaller size. Working out the detailed consequences of the organization of SAMs helps to assess their possible role in technology and defines paths towards ultimate control over organic interfaces.
Domains differ by their phase, their chain tilt or the origin of sulfur adsoption.
The phases originate from the particular distribution in the unit cell of molecules with different twist angles that move end groups at different height levels in and out of the average plane of the monolayer by 0.03 nm. Thermal Stability of Self-Assembled Monolayers, E. Delamarche, B. Michel, H. Kang and Ch. Gerber, M. Jaschke, H.-J. Butt and E. Bamberg, J. Phys. Recognition of Individual Tail Groups in Self-Assembled Monolayers, T. Takami, E. Delamarche, B. Michel, Ch. The surface of Self-Assembled Monolayers, E. Delamarche, B. Michel, H.A. Biebuyck and Ch.