Surface-confined polymerization on semiconducting and insulating substrates

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I have outlined an experimental program to study the formation, structure, and electronic properties of self-organized two-dimensional (2-d) polymers on semiconducting and oxide surfaces. It is now possible to arrange atoms and molecules into structures only a few nanometers in size (one nanometer is the diameter of about of four atoms, or 1/50,000th of a human hair). The resultant structures often represent new materials with unique properties. Rather than building these devices “one atom at a time”, a particularly attractive approach is to utilize a self-organization approach. Self-organization is characterized by the spontaneous formation of organized surface structures at nanometre length scales. With students at Lakehead University we will study the self-organization of two–dimensional organic polymers at semiconducting and oxide surfaces. As part of this proposal we outline a series of experiments to create polymers with conjugation in two dimensions via surface-confined polymerization. Traditional polymerization produces one-dimensional polymer chains. By inducing polymerization on an atomically flat surface we hope to produce polymers with a high degree of order and electronic conjugation in 2-d. We expect the resultant polymers will exhibit unique properties with wide-ranging applications in electronics and nanotechnology. The primary experimental technique we will utilize to study of the resulting polymers is scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). STM can image and measure the electronic properties of surfaces at atomic length scales. With the ability to “see” individual atoms STM has proven to be an extremely valuable tool in nanoscience. As stated the goal of this program is to study surface confined polymerization at semiconducting and oxide surfaces. To date experiments have been performed exclusively on single crystal metal surfaces. I anticipate that progress on the objectives outlined in this proposal will contribute to the development of a new class of organic materials with unique properties and wide ranging application in electronic, optics, and sensor technology.