The use of self-assembled polymer structures to direct the formation of mesoscopic (1-100 nm) features on silicon could provide a fabrication-compatible means to produce nanoscale patterns, supplementing conventional lithographic techniques. Here we demonstrate nanoscale etching of silicon, applying standard aqueous-based fluoride etchants, to produce three-dimensional nanoscale features with controllable shapes, sizes, average spacing, and chemical functionalization. The block copolymers serve to direct the silicon surface chemistry by controlling the spatial location of the reaction as well as concentration of reagents. The interiors of the resulting etched nanoscale features may be selectively functionalized with organic monolayers, metal nanoparticles, and other materials, leading to a range of ordered arrays on silicon.

The self-assembled diacetylene molecular monolayer was prepared on highly oriented pyrolitic graphite and observed by scanning tunneling microscopy. Upon applying ultraviolet irradiation, the self-assembled conjugated polydiacetylene nanowires resulting from photoinduced topochemical reaction of diacetylene molecules were obtained. Control of the spacings between nanowires was achieved by a simple coadsorption method. The result presented here may supply a general method to obtain spacing-controllable organic nanowires.

We have studied the self-assembled monolayers from a series of discotic liquid crystal molecules on graphite substrate using scanning tunneling microscopy. An emergence of chirality in 1,7,13-trialkanoyldecacyclene (with n-carbon side chains, n ) 14) monolayers was observed in the assembly. The driving force of the assembling behavior could be related to a cooperative interaction mechanism, possibly due to intermolecular steric hindrance, two-dimensional crystallization of alkyl substitutents.