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Force‐Driven Single‐Atom Manipulation on a Low‐Reactive Si Surface for Tip Sharpening
Author(s) -
Berger Jan,
Spadafora Evan J.,
Mutombo Pingo,
Jelínek Pavel,
Švec Martin
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.201500092
Subject(s) - sharpening , materials science , atom (system on chip) , silicon , nanotechnology , surface (topology) , chemical physics , optoelectronics , chemistry , mechanical engineering , computer science , geometry , mathematics , engineering , embedded system
A single atomic manipulation on the delta‐doped B:Si(111)‐( )R30° surface using a low temperature dynamic atomic force microscopy based on the Kolibri sensor is investigated. Through a controlled vertical displacement of the probe, a single Si adatom in order to open a vacancy is removed. It is shown that this process is completely reversible, by accurately placing a Si atom back into the vacancy site. In addition, density functional theory simulations are carried out to understand the underlying mechanism of the atomic manipulation in detail. This process also rearranges the atoms at the tip apex, which can be effectively sharpened in this way. Such sharper tips allow for a deeper look into the Si adatom vacancy site. Namely, high‐resolution images of the vacancy showing subsurface Si dangling bond triplets, which surround the substitutional B dopant atom in the first bilayer, are achieved.