Self-assembled monolayer (SAM) thin films formed by amine-terminated organosilanes have found widespread use in biosensing devices due to their ease of preparation and their modifiable surface chemistry. Ideally the silane anchors to the surface of a silicon wafer or substrate generating an amine-rich interfacial layer for the attachment of biomolecules. The formation of SAMs is however a very complex process, with extreme sensitivity to preparation conditions such as concentration, temperature, solvent, and deposition time, that can easily result in a non-idealized film structure. We utilize vibrational sum frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy to study the interface-specific chemistry of SAMs generated from a variety of amino-terminated organosilanes in an effort to understand and optimize SAM morphology.

Vibrational sum frequency generation analysis of amine-terminated organosilane self-assembled monolayers

245th National Meeting (2013)

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