We have investigated the liquid-phase self-assembly of 1-alkanethiols (HS(CH2)(n-1)CH3, n = 8, 16, and 18) on hydrogenated Ge(111), using attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy as well as water contact angle measurements. The infrared absorbance of C-H stretching modes of alkanethiolates on Ge, in conjunction with water contact angle measurements, demonstrates that the final packing density is a function of alkanethiol concentration in 2-propanol and its chain length. High concentration and long alkyl chain increase the steady-state surface coverage of alkanethiolates. A critical chain length exists between n = 8 and 16, above which the adsorption kinetics is comparable for all long alkyl chain 1-alkanethiols. The steady-state coverage of hexadecanethiolates, representing long-chain alkanethiolates, reaches a maximum at approximately 5.9 x 10(14) hexadecanethiolates/cm(2) in 1 M solution. The characteristic time constant to reach a steady state also decreases with increasing chain length. This chain length dependence is attributed to the attractive chain-to-chain interaction in long-alkyl-chain self-assembled monolayers, which reduces the desorption-to-adsorption rate ratio (k(d)/k(a)). We also report the adsorption and desorption rate constants (k(a) and k(d)) of 1-hexadecanethiol on hydrogenated Ge(111) at room temperature. The alkanethiol adsorption is a two-step process following a first-order Langmuir isotherm: (1) fast adsorption with k(a) = 2.4 +/- 0.2 cm(3)/(mol s) and k(d) = (8.2 +/- 0.5) x 10(-6) s(-1); (2) slow adsorption with ka = 0.8 +/- 0.5 cm(3)/(Mol s) and kd = (3 +/- 2) x 10(-6) s(-1).