Thin copper films were produced by chemical vapor deposition using the precursor Cu(II)bis-hexafluoroacetylacetonate on the SiO(2)/Si substrate modified with cyano and carboxylic self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) as diffusion barriers. The characterizations of the deposited copper films were measured by various thin film analysis techniques, i.e., scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. The comparison between copper deposited on SiO(2) and on the SAM-modified SiO(2) substrates indicates that the copper films tend to be deposited onto the SAM-modified substrate, which is further proved by the calculation results of the interaction energies of copper and the SAMs with density functional theory method. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.