A microcontroller was used to operate a pulsed-solenoid valve connected directly to a vacuum chamber (10−8mbar) to deposit microliters of solution resulting in monolayer and submonolayer coverage of the substrate. This technique is particularly suited for preparing samples to be characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy or atomic force microscopy. The microcontroller can be programed to open the valve at the millisecond timescale. The valve is particularly suited to deliver air and temperature sensitive molecules to the substrate without the need to remove the substrate from vacuum for deposition.

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