Defect mediated manipulation of nanoclusters on an insulator

Abstract

With modern scanning probe microscopes, it is possible to manipulate surface structures even at the atomic level. However, manipulation of nanoscale objects such as clusters is often more relevant and also more challenging due to the complicated interactions between the surface, cluster and apparatus. We demonstrate the manipulation of nanometer scale gold clusters on the NaCl(001) surface with a non-contact atomic force microscope, and show that the movement of clusters is in certain cases constrained to specific crystallographic directions. First principles calculations explain this kinetic anisotropy as the result of the cluster attaching to surface defects: cation vacancies allow the clusters to bond in such a way that they only move in one direction. Constraining the movement of clusters could be exploited in the construction of nanostructures or nanomechanical devices, and the manipulation signatures may also be used for identifying cluster-defect complexes.

Atomic Structures of Silicene Layers Grown on Ag(111): Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy Observations

“…Such experiments could be further assisted by Kelvin probe microscopy33, which has shown to be quite powerful for measuring, e.g., work function differences at the nanometer34 and even atomic scale35. Most importantly, since STM as well as nc-AFM nowadays allow manipulating atoms36, molecules37 and clusters38, the two types of microscopes could be used, in principle, to manipulate the second layer silicene islands on the first one, provided that the coupling between the layers is only weak. Note that the manipulation of thin films has been exemplified by recent experiments of NaCl films on Cu(111)39.…”

Contact simulation of soft micro/nano bioparticles for use in identification of mechanical properties and manipulation based on atomic force microscopy

“…In this state, considering the amount of indentation, the contact is divided into two sections. If 1 0 C 0 6, the relationships between the dimensionless contact load and the dimensionless interference, and between the dimensionless contact area and the dimensionless interference, are shown by equations (4) and 5, respectively.…”

“…Hynninen et al investigated these challenges to direct the manipulation of a nanocluster beyond the constraint of the tip's scanning direction. 4 Korayem et al studied the simulation of cylindrical and capped cylindrical micro/nanoparticle contact. They concluded that the indentation depth of capped cylindrical particles is less than that of spherical particles and larger than cylindrical particles.…”

Elucidating the charge state of an Au nanocluster on the oxidized/reduced rutile TiO2 (110) surface using non-contact atomic force microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy

“…Recently, atomic force microscopy (AFM), as a viable alternative, has been used to provide atomic-scale images of surfaces, characterize atoms and molecules, [17][18][19] and manipulate the nanoclusters. 20,21 In contrast to STM, AFM can avoid the unintended charge rearrangement due to its force modulation mechanism. 17 Moreover, Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) due to its atomic scale precision allows us to directly detect the different charge states within the atomic scale using the local contact potential difference (LCPD).…”