Formation of order molecular nanostructures on the Si(111)-(7×7) surface by patterned assembly

Abstract

The use of copper clusters formed on the Si(111)-(7×7) surface was studied as a template for selective binding of molecules, forming ordered molecular nanostructures. It was shown that thiophene molecules preferentially bind to the copper clusters through the S-Cu interaction involving S lone-pair electrons. It was suggested that large-scale two-dimensional thiophene molecular nanostructures can be obtained using this patterned assembly technique. The feasibility for controllable growth of ordered molecular nanostructures on Si(111) surface was also demonstrated.