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Characterization and modification of conducting substrates for ultrathin organic films by scanning tunneling microscopy
Author(s) -
Buchholz Stefan,
Fuchs Harald,
Rabe Jürgen P.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.19910030110
Subject(s) - materials science , scanning tunneling microscope , highly oriented pyrolytic graphite , nucleation , substrate (aquarium) , characterization (materials science) , pyrolytic carbon , nanotechnology , surface modification , graphite , scanning probe microscopy , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , composite material , pyrolysis , chemistry , engineering , oceanography , geology
Communication : The structure of an organic film of molecular thickness depends strongly on the surface properties of the underlying substrate. STM is a method which enables a substrate surface to be characterized and controlled as demonstrated in the figure, where the letter “U” etched with an STM tip into a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) surface is shown. The holes, which are around 5 nm in diameter, could serve as nucleation sites for an organic adsorbate phase.