AVS 47th International Symposium
    Processing at the Nanoscale/NANO 6 Monday Sessions
       Session NS+NANO6-MoA

Invited Paper NS+NANO6-MoA1
Atomic/Molecular Manipulation with the Low Temperature STM

Monday, October 2, 2000, 2:00 pm, Room 302

Session: Manipulation of Atoms and Molecules
Presenter: G. Meyer, Paul Drude Institut für Festkörperelektronik, Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
The scanning tunneling microscope (STM) opened up new fascinating possibilities for the development of atomic scale technologies. The force between the STM-tip and a single adsorbate can be used to laterally position atoms/molecules with atomic precision (lateral manipulation), which allows the buildup of small nanostructures in an atom by atom way. By exploiting electric field and inelastic tunneling effects individual molecules can be desorbed, transferred to the STM-tip (vertical manipulation), dissociated or even synthesized. For future applications the basic physical mechanisms controlling these techniques have to be investigated first. As model systems we have studied the lateral/vertical manipulation of single metal adatoms (Cu), small molecules (CO, C@sub6@H@sub 4@I@sub 2@), and large molecules (CuTBPP) adsorbed on metal surfaces (Cu(111), Cu(100), Cu(211)) at low temperatures. Adsorbates can be moved laterally by applying attractive or repulsive forces. This results in a simple pulling or pushing behavior, which can be directly observed in the STM tip height or current signal. In the case of large molecules, which have additional internal degrees of freedom, a more complicated movement behavior is observed. Apart from single adsorbates, also complete chains of molecules can be laterally manipulated and information on the correlated motion of the molecules can be extracted. Finally several examples for the application of the manipulation techniques in the area of surface science will be given. These include: determination of adsorbate binding sites, buildup of small domains of ordered adsorbate phases, atomic scale structuring of the underlying substrate, measurement of weak substrate mediated long range adsorbate interactions, dissociation/synthesis of molecules, manipulation on thin insulating films.