Senenko A. Investigations of nanoscales structure and properties of ultrathin organic films.

The thesis is devoted to investigations of structure and physical properties of superthin organic films adsorbed on atomically flat surfaces. The investigated films were obtained by liquid deposition or by vacuum evaporation. Structures and electronic properties of deposited films were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) adapted for liquid and air environment. Highly oriented pyrolitic graphite (HOPG) and reconstructed Au(111) surface served as the substrates. The superthin films of arahidic acid C19H39COOH, boron acid C16H33B(OH)2, tetracene films and fullerene C60 films have been investigated in this research. Long normal n-alkanes (n-CnH2n+2, n=20, 48, 50) were used as model adsorbates. It has been shown that functional polar -B(OH)2 and COOH-groups plays principal role in self-organization process. For both acids the effect of pairing of molecules within corresponding monolayers has been revealed. It has been shown that dimmerization process is due to interaction between polar groups.