Thiols can diffuse and form self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on the gold surfaces covered with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamps. For the first time, with cells as the indicator of how far alkanethiols had diffused to form SAM, we studied the growth dynamics of SAMs of HS(CH2)(11)(OCH2CH2)(3)OH (EG(3)) and HS(CH2)(11)(OCH2CH2)(6)OH (EG(6)) on the gold surfaces covered with PDMS stamps. The growth of SAMs is well described by one-dimensional diffusion from a line source of concentration, with surface diffusion coefficient of 193.4 +/- A 19.2 mu m(2)/min (EG(3)) and 95.8 +/- A 18.9 mu m(2)/min (EG(6)).