AVS 45th International Symposium
    Nanometer-scale Science and Technology Division Thursday Sessions
       Session NS-ThA

Paper NS-ThA4
Field-Induced Manipulation of Ag Clusters for Tailoring of Nano-Structures on Silicon Surface

Thursday, November 5, 1998, 3:00 pm, Room 321/322/323

Session: Nanoscale Manipulation and Chemical Modification
Presenter: K.-H. Park, ETRI, Republic of Korea
Authors: K.-H. Park, ETRI, Republic of Korea
J.S. Ha, ETRI, Republic of Korea
W.S. Yun, ETRI, Republic of Korea
E.-H. Lee, ETRI, Republic of Korea
Correspondent: Click to Email
A precise nano-fabrication method was devised by using field-induced manipulation of Ag clusters with a tip of scanning tunneling microscope(STM). After deposition of Ag on Sb-terminated Si(100) surface, we were able to selectively desorb(redeposit) Ag clusters from(to) the surface by applying a voltage pulse. The manipulation of metal clusters was found to be precisely controlled due to the weak bonding strength between the clusters and an Sb-terminated Si(100) surface. We investigated those field-induced manipulation by varying bias voltage, pulse duration, and distance between tip and sample. Under suitable conditions for manipulation, we could fabricated various kinds of metallic nanostructures on the Sb-passivated silicon surface. Of interest, single electron charging and tunneling behaviors were observed in the local current-voltage (I-V) measurements on top of Ag clusters at room temperature. We have found that Coulomb staircases in tunneling spectroscopy at Ag nano-clusters sensitively depended on the distribution of surrounding clusters, indicating that the lateral conduction channel through neighboring Ag clusters was very important for the tunneling I-V characteristics. This result can be further utilized for the construction of single electron devices operating at room temperature by means of lateral conduction channels.