| AVS 56th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Nanometer-scale Science and Technology | Thursday Sessions |
| Session NS-ThA |
| Session: | Characterization & Imaging at the Nanoscale II |
| Presenter: | Y.J. Song, NIST and University of Maryland, College Park |
| Authors: | Y.J. Song, NIST and University of Maryland, College Park S.C. Erwin, Naval Research Laboratory G.M. Rutter, National Institute of Standards and Technology P.N. First, Georgia Institute of Technology N.B. Zhitenev, National Institute of Standards and Technology Y. Kuk, NIST and Seoul National University, Korea J.A. Stroscio, National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The ability to manipulate single atoms has been demonstrated for both lateral and vertical manipulation using a tunable chemical-bond interaction between the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) probe tip and adsorbed atom [1]. More recently a new form of atom manipulation involving the exchange of two different surface atoms has been observed with Mn atoms on III-V surfaces; the motivation being the understanding magnetic interactions in these dilute magnetic semiconductors [2]. In this presentation we discuss detailed measurements and theoretical calculations of the STM induced exchange of Mn and In atoms on the InAs(110) surface. Mn was deposited onto the InAs(110) surface at 7K and were observed as single adatoms. We used the STM to artificially substitute the single Mn adatoms with In atoms in the top-most surface layer. This process involves raising the sample tunneling voltage beyond a certain threshold voltage of approximately -0.6 eV. We determined the statistical analysis of the threshold voltages for different offset tunneling currents and measured high resolution STM images of the initial and final Mn states as a function of tunneling voltage. We calculated the pathway and energetics for this atomic exchange with density functional calculations and compare with the STM measurements.
[1] J. A. Stroscio and D. M. Eigler, Science 254, 1319 (1991).
[2] Dale Kitchen et al, Nature 442, 436 (2006).