Image correction for atomic force microscopy images with functionalized tips

Neu, Mathias; Moll, Nikolaj; Groß, Leo; Meyer, Gerhard; Giessibl, Franz J.; Repp, Jascha

doi:10.1103/physrevb.89.205407

Cited by 62 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Note that traditional STHM achieves geometric contrast at low bias voltages of approximately +10 to 30 mV, because the close tip–sample approach is necessary to trap hydrogen molecules below the tip . With this close approach, there should thus be similar deviations from real bond lengths as observed with tip‐modified nc‐AFM, in which the deviations are up to 100 %, similar to that observed here at small voltage. By being able to image at higher bias voltage here, we reduce the deviation to less than 30 %.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 77%

“…In order to understand the difference in apparent diameter, we reiterate that the interaction of the probe molecule with the surface is of importance to understand image distortion in tip‐modified nc‐AFM . Likewise, the hydrogen molecules here do not only interact with the radicals, but also with the surface on which they have preferred binding sites.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Imaging the Bonds of Dehalogenated Benzene Radicals on Cu(111) and Au(111)

2016

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Dissociative adsorption of doubly substituted benzene molecules leads to formation of benzyne radicals. In this study, co-adsorbed hydrogen molecules are used in scanning tunneling hydrogen microscopy to enhance the contrast of the meta- and the para-isomers of these radicals on Cu(111) and Au(111). Up to three hydrogen molecules are attached to one radical. One hydrogen molecule reveals the orientation of the carbon ring and its adsorption site, allowing discrimination between the two radicals. Two hydrogen molecules reflect the bond picture of the carbon skeleton and reveals that adsorption on Cu(111) distorts the meta- isomer differently from its gas-phase distortion. Three hydrogen molecules allow us to determine the bond picture of a minor species.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Imaging the Bonds of Dehalogenated Benzene Radicals on Cu(111) and Au(111)

2016

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“…The sharp ridges observed in the intramolecular region often mimics the internal molecular structure [5], with only few exceptions [6,7]. The capability of AFM/STM to resolve internal atomic and chemical structure in real space opened new horizons for the characterization of molecules and surfaces [5,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] at atomic scale.The origin of high resolution of molecular structures in AFM has been attributed to Pauli repulsion [2,16] and the bending of the functionalized tip apex [5]. Recently, we introduced a numerical model [7] which provides a unified insight into the detailed mechanism of the high resolution imaging with decorated tips in both AFM and STM.…”

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Origin of High-Resolution IETS-STM Images of Organic Molecules with Functionalized Tips

et al. 2014

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Recently, the family of high-resolution scanning probe imaging techniques using decorated tips has been complimented by a method based on inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS). The new technique resolves the inner structure of organic molecules by mapping the vibrational energy of a single carbonmonoxide (CO) molecule positioned at the apex of a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) tip. Here, we explain high-resolution IETS imaging by extending the model developed earlier for STM and atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging with decorated tips. In particular, we show that the tip decorated with CO acts as a nanoscale sensor that changes the energy of the CO frustrated translation in response to the change of the local curvature of the surface potential. In addition, we show that high resolution AFM, STM and IETS-STM images can deliver information about intramolecular charge transfer for molecules deposited on a surface. To demonstrate this, we extended our numerical model by taking into the account the electrostatic force acting between the decorated tip and surface Hartree potential.PACS numbers: 68.37. Ef, 68.37.Ps, 68.43.Fg One of the most exciting and significant breakthroughs in field of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) in last years is undoubtedly the achievement of high-resolution STM [1] and AFM [2] images of molecular structures with functionalized tips [3,4]. In general, the high-resolution images, being typically acquired in the regime where the tip-surface interaction becomes repulsive, are characterized by a presence of sharp features in both intra and intermolecular regions. The sharp ridges observed in the intramolecular region often mimics the internal molecular structure [5], with only few exceptions [6,7]. The capability of AFM/STM to resolve internal atomic and chemical structure in real space opened new horizons for the characterization of molecules and surfaces [5,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] at atomic scale.The origin of high resolution of molecular structures in AFM has been attributed to Pauli repulsion [2,16] and the bending of the functionalized tip apex [5]. Recently, we introduced a numerical model [7] which provides a unified insight into the detailed mechanism of the high resolution imaging with decorated tips in both AFM and STM. According to the model, the decorated tip apex acts as an atomistic force sensor that responds with significant relaxations of the decorating particle (probe particle) towards local minima of the tip-sample interaction potential at close distances. The relaxations cause discontinuities in both the frequency shift and the tunneling current signals and thus become observable in AFM and STM images as sharp contrast features. Although the model was originally used to confirm the decisive role of Pauli repulsion in the high-resolution STM and AFM imaging of molecular structures done with functionalized tips, it must be noted that imaging of other types of interactions (e.g. electrostatic) should also be possible [5]. Namely, the influence of intramo...

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“…This artifact is commonly observed in the nc-AFM imaging with CO tips. It varies for different substrate materials, and has been assigned to the lateral forces bending the flexible CO molecule at the tip[21,13].…”

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confidence: 99%

Sexiphenyl on Cu(100): nc-AFM tip functionalization and identification

et al. 2018

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The contrast obtained in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) images is determined by the tip termination and symmetry.Functionalizing the tip with a single metal atom, CO molecule or organic species has been shown to provide high spatial resolution and insights into tip-surface interactions. A topic where this concept is utilized is the adsorption of organic molecules at surfaces. With this work we aim to contribute to the growing database of organic molecules that allow assignment by intra-molecular imaging. We investigated the organic molecule para-sexiphenyl (C 36 H 26 , 6P) on Cu(100) using low-temperature STM and non-contact AFM with intra-molecular resolution. In the sub-monolayer regime we find a planar and flat adsorption with the 6P molecules rotated 10° off the <010> directions. In this configuration, four of the six phenyl rings occupy almost equivalent sites on the surface. The 6P molecules are further investigated with COfunctionalized tips, in comparison to a single-atom metal and 6P-terminated tip. We also show that the procedure of using adsorbed CO to characterize tips introduced by Hofmann et al. Phys. Rev. B 112 (2014) 066101 is useful when the tip is terminated with an organic molecule.

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Image correction for atomic force microscopy images with functionalized tips

Cited by 62 publications

References 34 publications

Imaging the Bonds of Dehalogenated Benzene Radicals on Cu(111) and Au(111)

Imaging the Bonds of Dehalogenated Benzene Radicals on Cu(111) and Au(111)

Origin of High-Resolution IETS-STM Images of Organic Molecules with Functionalized Tips

Sexiphenyl on Cu(100): nc-AFM tip functionalization and identification

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