Surface stress in the self-assembly of alkanethiols on gold probed .by a force microscopy technique

The extreme sensitivity of scanning force mi- croscopy allows its application to be extended well beyond the probing of surfaces. We discuss micromechanical force microscope cantilevers, with a thin Au receptor layer on one side, as sensors for gas-phase adsorption of alkanethiols, which self-organize into well-ordered, densely packed films. Quantitative data show that surface stress develops during the self-assembly process for alkanethiols of different chain lengths. In particular, we present an analysis of the kinet- ics of the replacement process of adsorbates by butanethiol molecules, details of the acquisition analysis, and a quantita- tive calibration technique.