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

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method for atom extraction from surfaces using a scanning tunneling microscope tip-crash, enabling precise nanoscale surface engineering and quantum structure construction.

Contribution

It presents a novel atom extraction mechanism via STM tip-crash on Ag(111), demonstrating controlled atom manipulation for nanoscale engineering.

Findings

Mechanical energy dominates atom extraction process

Atoms can be precisely scattered and manipulated

Quantum structures constructed atom-by-atom

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.