Quantitative evidence of significantly improved interfacial adhesion between Au films and SiOx/Si substrates induced by an organic dendrimer monolayer was presented. For dendrimer-mediated Au films, nanoscratch tests revealed a critical load that was two times higher than that for films without dendrimer mediation. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) examination of nanoindents revealed much constrained lateral flow of metals in the dendrimer-mediated Au films during nanoindentation, indicating enhanced adhesion due to the presence of the dendrimer layer. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.