We investigate various alkanethiol self-assembled monolayer inks for microcontact printing patterns on gold substrates. Our research compares hexadecanethiol with an alkanethiol of higher molecular weight, octadecanethiol. Transport mechanisms of alkanethiols along the gold surface and through the ambient are highly dependant upon the molecular weight of the thiols used, and thus are of particular importance when patterning submicron features. Monolayers of octadecanethiol are well suited for patterning such features on gold. The quality of transferred patterns printed with octadecanethiol and hexadecanethiol are examined. The gold patterns fabricated in this work were analyzed via scanning electron microscopy. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.