Fourier-transform infrared and photoluminescence spectroscopies of self-assembled monolayers of long-chain thiols on (001) GaAs

Abstract

Self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of various thiols have shown the potential to protect freshly fabricated or chemically cleaned GaAs surfaces from oxidization, adsorption of foreign atoms, and/or surface defect formation. We have employed an attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopic technique to investigate the process of formation of long-chain thiols, comprising ten or more methylene chains, on the surface of (001) GaAs. A strong infrared (IR) signal was measured for all the investigated GaAs-thiol interfaces. Varying the type of terminal groups, from hydrophilic to hydrophobic, significantly changes the IR intensity of the methylene stretching vibration, indicating different methylene chain orientation in SAMs. Consequently, these SAMs exhibited different passivation performance to the (001) GaAs surface as judged by the intensity of the GaAs-related photoluminescence signal. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.