Mapping the subsurface composition of organic films by electric force microscopy

This paper describes preliminary results that demonstrate the ability of electric force microscopy to map compositional differences of organic monolayers buried under a thick (similar to 430 nm) polymeric film. The underlying adlayer was patterned onto a gold surface using the microcontact printing of CH3(CH2)(16)SH followed by solution deposition of HO(CH2)(16)SH. This procedure results in alternating domains of different terminal groups. Results show that the imaging mechanism exhibits sufficient contrast to function as a mapping methodology for buried functional groups.