Growth and magnetism of patterned atomic and molecular nanostructures

The present thesis work deals with the study of the growth and properties of surface supported metallic, molecular and hybrid nanostructures. The fabrication of these nanostructures is made by following complementary approaches, namely self-organized growth of metal islands and dippen nanolithography. A common feature is to exploit the self-organization and self-assembly of metals and molecules on Au surfaces. However, in one case atoms spontaneously organize thanks to the Au surface reconstruction, while in the other one the pattern arises from a localized delivery of molecular components. A particolar attention is given to connect the physical properties of the nanostructures (and notably the magnetic ones) with the structure and morphology of the nanostructures.