Scanning tunneling microscopy study of organic molecules and self-assembled monolayers

In this dissertation I present my findings on alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers (SAM) on Au(111), as well as investigations of the self-assembly and electron transport properties of a custom-synthesized organic molecule (bis-phenyloxazole: BPO) chosen for its interesting physical and electronic structure.; Utilizing scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) techniques, we observed unique molecular structures at the boundaries of single-species alkanethiol SAM domains, and propose packing arrangements for the observed structures. We also found evidence for island formation in alkanethiol SAMs; these islands were dynamic and exhibited ordered packing of the adsorbed molecules.; For codeposited two-species (dodecanethiol, octanethiol) SAMs, we observed preferential insertion of the longer molecules at domain boundaries, edges, and defect sites, and found that they tended to segregate into separate domains. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) of the inserted dodecanethiol molecules revealed evidence of conduction resonances within the HOMO-LUMO gap.; We explored the charge transport and self-assembly properties of the BPO molecules on a Au(111) surface. The molecules self-assembled into a novel columnar structure after annealing in vacuum. We compare tunneling spectroscopy results to ab initio computations of the molecular orbitals.