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

Paper NS+NANO6-WeP3
Manipulation of Single Cu-TBPP Molecules by Low Temperature STM

Wednesday, October 4, 2000, 11:00 am, Room Exhibit Hall C & D

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: F. Moresco, FU Berlin, Germany
Authors: F. Moresco, FU Berlin, Germany
G. Meyer, FU Berlin, Germany
K.H. Rieder, FU Berlin, Germany
H. Tang, CEMES CNRS Toulouse, France
A. Gourdon, CEMES CNRS Toulouse, France
C. Joachim, CEMES CNRS Toulouse, France
Correspondent: Click to Email
The development of integrated nanoelectronic devices and the requirement of assembling perfectly identical nanostructures has recently focused the research attention on the vast range of possibilities offered by molecular structures. Controlled positioning of individual molecules can be performed by lateral manipulation with the STM tip. STM is in this respect a very promising technique because it contemporarily allows to determine the structure and conformation of the molecules and to build controlled molecular nanostructures without affecting the internal structure of the molecules. A detailed investigation of the processes involved in the manipulation of individual porphyrin-based molecules by scanning tunneling microscopy at low temperature is presented. The molecular conformation on different Cu surfaces is discussed. We show that the molecules occupy different configurations, depending on the interaction with the substrate and on the orientation of the four lateral substituent groups. By means of vertical and lateral manipulation it has been possible to switch between the different conformations and to exploit in detail the interaction between the STM tip and the molecule. Due to the complicated structure of the molecules we have explored different manipulation techniques, exploiting not only constant current but also constant height lateral manipulation.