Chemical identification of individual surface atoms by atomic force microscopy

Sugimoto, Yoshiaki; Pou, Pablo Jauralde; Abe, Masayuki; Jelı́nek, Pavel; Pérez, Rúben; Morita, Seizo; Custance, Óscar

doi:10.1038/nature05530

Cited by 671 publications

(488 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

461

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…15 Force spectroscopy (FS) experiments, in which tip-sample forces are determined as a function of distance for specific surface sites 16 or over a two-dimensional (2D) area (3D mapping), 17 impose an even stronger constrain on the tip structure and the nature of the interactions. FS has been used to discriminate between the two ionic sublattices on several insulator surfaces, [18][19][20][21][22] to achieve single-atom chemical identification on semiconductors, 23 and to understand the nc-AFM contrast on carbon nanostructures. 24,25 In this work we combine site-specific force measurements and extensive first-principles calculations on TiO 2 (110)-1 × 1, aiming to clarify the origin of the observed nc-AFM contrast and to characterize the tip structures responsible for the protrusion and hole imaging modes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding image contrast formation in TiO2with force spectroscopy

et al. 2012

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Site-specific force measurements on a rutile TiO 2 (110) surface are combined with first-principles calculations in order to clarify the origin of the force contrast and to characterize the tip structures responsible for the two most common imaging modes. Our force data, collected over a broad range of distances, are only consistent with a tip apex contaminated with clusters of surface material. A flexible model tip terminated with an oxygen explains the protrusion mode. For the hole mode we rule out previously proposed Ti-terminated tips, pointing instead to a chemically inert, OH-terminated apex. These two tips, just differing in the terminal H, provide a natural explanation for the frequent contrast changes found in the experiments. As tip-sample contact is difficult to avoid while imaging oxide surfaces, we expect our tip models to be relevant to interpret scanning probe studies of defects and adsorbates on TiO 2 and other technologically relevant metal oxides.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding image contrast formation in TiO2with force spectroscopy

et al. 2012

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Again this observation can be only interpreted by the presence of the repulsive short-range interactions over the topmost Si atoms. The lack of a strong attractive short-range force compared to other Si-based surfaces, 21,22 indicates that either our tip apex was not chemically active or the silicene (4x4) structure is chemically inert. The later could explain low reactivity towards molecular oxygen 11 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Combined AFM and STM measurements of a silicene sheet grown on the Ag(111) surface

Majzik

Tchalala

Švec

et al. 2013

J. Phys.: Condens. Matter

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this Letter, we present the first non-contact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM) of a silicene on silver (Ag) surface, obtained by combining non-contact atomic force microscopy (nc-AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). STM images over large areas of silicene grown on Ag(111) surface show both (√13x√13)R13.9° and (4x4) superstructures.For the widely observed (4x4) structure, the nc-AFM topography shows an atomic-scale contrast inversion as the tip-surface distance is decreased. At the shortest tip-surface distance, the nc-AFM topography is very similar to the STM one. The observed structure in the nc-AFM topography is compatible with only one out of two silicon atoms being visible. This indicates unambiguously a strong buckling of the silicene honeycomb layer.

show abstract

“…T he ability of scanning probe microscopies, such as scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM), to scan surfaces with atomic/ molecular resolution 1 and provide in some cases information on the chemical identity of the scanned atoms 2 , has placed these methods at the top of the list of the experimental toolkit of surface science. However, the most exciting applications of either of the techniques are related to their ability to perform nanomanipulation [3][4][5] .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Vertical atomic manipulation with dynamic atomic-force microscopy without tip change via a multi-step mechanism

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Manipulation is the most exciting feature of the non-contact atomic force microscopy technique as it allows building nanostructures on surfaces. Usually vertical manipulations are accompanied by an abrupt tip modification leading to a change of contrast. Here we report on low-temperature experiments demonstrating vertical manipulations of 'super'-Cu atoms on the p(2 Â 1) Cu(110):O surface, both extractions to and depositions from the tip, when the imaging contrast remains the same. These results are rationalized employing a novel and completely general method that combines density functional theory calculations for obtaining energy barriers as a function of tip height and a Kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm for studying the tip dynamics and extraction of manipulation statistics. The model reveals a novel multistep manipulation mechanism combining activated jumps of 'super'-Cu atoms to/from the tip with their drag by and diffusion on the tip.

show abstract

Chemical identification of individual surface atoms by atomic force microscopy

Cited by 671 publications

References 28 publications

Understanding image contrast formation in TiO2with force spectroscopy

Understanding image contrast formation in TiO2with force spectroscopy

Combined AFM and STM measurements of a silicene sheet grown on the Ag(111) surface

Vertical atomic manipulation with dynamic atomic-force microscopy without tip change via a multi-step mechanism

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About