<em>SELF-ASSEMBLY</em> DI DNA SU SUPERFICIE: UNO STUDIO COMBINATO NANOLITOGRAFIA/SPETTROSCOPIA OTTICA

Abstract

The self-assembly of organic molecules and biomolecules on inorganic surfaces is a complex process which results from the interplay between different interactions: molecule/molecule, molecule/surface, and molecule/solvent interactions. The interest in the study of molecular self-assembly derives from the possibility to obtain functionalized surfaces that exhibit the functional properties of the deposited (bio) molecules. Self-Assembled Monolayers (SAMs) are indeed widely used in biosensing. SAMs of organosulphur compounds on gold are among the most widely studied SAMs. In the following, a combined approach that couples scanning probe microscopy and spectroellipsometry is discussed and applied to the study of the morphological, mechanical and optical properties of SAMs of DNA single strands. DNA SAMs are a widely investigated system since they can be exploited for the design of DNA microarrays based on the hybridization between complementary DNA strands.