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Single atom extraction by scanning tunneling microscope tip-crash and nanoscale surface engineering

Saw Wai Hla·Kai-Felix Braun·Violeta Iancu·Aparna Deshpande
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Abstract

We report a novel atom extraction mechanism from the native substrate by means of a scanning tunneling microscope tip-crash on a Ag(111) surface at 5 K. Individual atoms are scattered on the surface when a silver coated tip is dipped into the substrate at low tunneling biases. Quantitative analyses reveal that the mechanical energy supplied by the tip-crash dominates the atom extraction process. Application of this procedure is demonstrated by constructing quantum structures using the extracted atoms on an atom-by-atom basis.

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Saw Wai Hla, Kai-Felix Braun, Violeta Iancu, Aparna Deshpande. 2004-09-03. Single atom extraction by scanning tunneling microscope tip-crash and nanoscale surface engineering. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl0487065

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