Effect of Island Size on the Packing Density in the Early Stages of Alkylsilane-Based Monolayer Self Assembly

The early stage of the self assembly for octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS)-based monolayers is investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM). Height measurements using AFM prove that the island height of the monolayers gradually increases with increasing the island size, and is close to the limiting value (h = $\sim$25 $\AA$) after d = $\sim$600 nm in size. Since the theoretical length of a covalently bound OTS molecule is 26.2 Å, the limiting value of the island height means that the islands with d ${\geq}$ 600 nm consist of close-packed, fully extended chains. The heights for the islands with d < 600 nm are lower than the limiting value and decrease with decreasing the island sizes. This observation indicates that the OTS molecules in the small islands are less densely packed, and that the packing densities of the islands increase as the islands grow in size.