Arrays of Cu²⁺-complexed organic clusters grown on gold nano dots

Controlled growth of organic multilayers from periodic gold dot arrays on SiO₂ surfaces has been used to create complex overlayer structures. Nanosphere lithography was first used to produce uniform metal patterns with particle sizes of 40 nm, spaced by gaps of 110 nm. These particles served as the nucleation centers for layer-by-layer growth of organic/metal ion complexes. The resulting structures can either be isolated adsorbed dot structures on a continuous surface or continuous networks of the adsorbed materials with isolated arrays of SiO₂ surface dots. Step-by-step multilayer growth from small isolated centers enables us to monitor the process by direct surface imaging techniques.