Breaking individual chemical bonds via STM-induced excitations

Study by scanning tunneling microscopy of hydrogen adsorption and desorption on Si(111)7×7 at room temperature and at high temperature

“…Here we provide additional data on the use of STM to characterize the H/Si(111) surface during thermal desorption experiments. The role of tip-induced effects on the desorption of H from Si has also been explored by other groups [13,14,17,18]. In this work we concentrate on results which are new in this field.…”

“…Previous work [13,14,17,18] has shown that desorption can be induced by use of a sufficiently large positive sample-bias voltage, via electronic transitions of the bond states or by a large tunneling current which can lead to multiple-vibrational excitation. The desorption experiments were normally performed at room temperature, at which the thermal energy is not sufficient to reorder the surface into the 7×7 geometry on a larger scale.…”

Thermodynamically induced particle transport: Order-by-induction and entropic trapping at the nano-scale

“…Use of Eq. (14) with the substitution L ij → M ij (also using Eq. (16)) and extracting the nonlinear terms giveṡ…”

Biomolecular Materials. Report of the January 13-15, 2002 Workshop

“…At the nanoscale we cannot manipulate building blocks one by one, placing each in its required location relative to the others. (Techniques have been developed to use scanning probe microscopes to manipulate and arrange individual atoms one-by-one (e.g., Eigler and Schweizer 1990;Avouris et al,1996) but these cannot, at least now, push molecules or structures into place, or do more than one at a time. Thus, the concept of using nature's self-assembly principles outside the living organism to construct materials, structures and devices in non-living systems has captivated imaginations for centuries.…”