| Abstract: | The growth of thin metal films is an important step in the fabrication of electronic and magnetic devices. In this work, an atomically flat graphite surface was used as a model system to understand the details of gold film growth mechanisms and kinetics. Ordered assembling monolayers of 1‐octadecanethiol and stearic acid are used to modify the surface and uniform, densely packed ultrathin gold film with the thickness less than 5 nm are formed on these monolayer‐modified graphite surfaces in a large area. The amount of gold needed to be deposited in order to form a continuous gold film is significantly reduced as compared to that needed on a bare graphite surface. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
