This paper presents the optimum chemical template to microfabricate reproducibly the metal oxide film, i.e., tin oxide (SnOx), on the substrate from aqueous solution of tin chloride utilizing "monolayer-template-patterning (MTP)" technique. Silicon substrates covered with self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) were photo lithographically micropatterned to prepare the chemical templates of SAMs on SiOx/Si substrate. Three types of SAM-covered substrates, that is, CH3-, CHO-, and COOH-terminated substrates, were investigated to find the most appropriate chemical template for the MTP of SnOx. On the CH3-terminated SAM template, well-defined microstructures of SnOx were observed, while neither of others, i.e., CHO-SAM and COOH-SAM templates, has reproducibly resulted in micropatterned SnOx. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.