Date of Award

Spring 2008

Project Type

Dissertation

Program or Major

Physics

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

First Advisor

Karsten Pohl

Abstract

Self-assembly on strained metallic interfaces is an attractive option for growing highly ordered, multi-functional nanopatterns. I performed a series of studies in UHV to investigate the processes of ordered growth and self-assembly on Au(111). I did a combined AES/STM study of the formation of ordered networks of Co islands on Au(111) and obtained the conditions for growing uniform, bi-layer Co-terminated clusters. In another STM study I obtained novel results which reveal the particular complexity of CH3SH self-assembly on Au(111). I observed dimerization of the molecules on the FCC areas of an unperturbed Au(111) reconstruction network and the formation of two new continuous ordered phases--an in-plane oriented stripe phase (beta-phase) and an out-of-plane pointing, close-packed phase (&phgr;-phase). These results complement recent theoretical investigations and contribute to an ongoing DFT study of the energetics of the assembly. The cluster growth and the self-assembly processes are successfully combined in achieving selective adsorption of CH 3SH on Co/Au(111) network--a prototype nanotechnology for directed self-assembly of molecular elements on large, multifunctional templates with a nm size unit cell. The thermal evolution of Co/Au(111) system is established, and CH3SH is shown to exhibit a novel interaction which leads to non-dissociative dimerization and to the formation of new ordered phases.

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