Fabrication via electrochemical oxidation of self-assembled monolayers and site-selective derivatization of surface templates

The fabrication of nondimensional magnetic structures utilizes the local electrochemical oxidation of a well defined densely packed self-assembled monolayer consisting of n- octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) molecules was analyzed. These multivalent chlorosilane molecules were hydrolized in the presence of water and binded covalently. The chemically heterogeneous surface along with chemically active surface patterns and the chemically inert, remaining OTS layer provides a suitable template structure to guide the size-selective generation of magnetic nanoparticles. The high particle density generated makes the derivatization technique interesting for the fabrication of conducting nanostructures, which would offer new possibilities in terms of functional device design. The construction of multicomponent devices will benefit in terms of lithographic approach and possibility of the sequential functionalization of predefined surface areas to hierarchically assemble more complex device features.