Elsevier, Thin Solid Films, 9(519), p. 2817-2820
DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2010.11.081
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Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) formed via chemisorption are important for a variety of surface enhancement and biological applications. We demonstrate that combinatorial spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) provides dynamic, in-situ characterization of the chemisorption process. In agreement with other studies, we find there are two steps for 1-decanethiol, an example alkanethiol SAM, chemisorption onto gold, which are a brief, fast phase followed by one that is long but slower. By using both the optical (SE) and mechanical (QCM-D) techniques, we show that the SAM porosity decreases during the second phase as the coupled ethanol solvent in the disorganized layer is replaced by more alkanethiol.