Nanometer-scale hole formation on graphite using a scanning tunneling microscope

Abstract

We present a reproducible technique for forming holes on a graphite surface with a scanning tunneling microscope. The holes have an average diameter of 40 Å (20 Å minimum) with an average resolvable spacing of 60 Å. Holes are produced by applying a short voltage pulse (3–8 V, 10–100 μs) across the tunneling gap which removes one or more layers of graphite in a small region directly below the tip. Arrays of hundreds of holes have been formed with yields as high as 99.6%. The writing process has a higher success rate in air or in the presence of water vapor. This suggests that the physical mechanism is a chemical process.

Localized electrochemistry for the investigation and the modification of 2D materials

“…46 Most of the studies use a well-known technique, Local Anodic Oxidation (LAO), which was introduced in 1989 for creating holes on graphite surface with an STM. 47 The electrochemical nature of the process was identified soon after, as illustrated in figure 8a. With graphene, most studies employ conductive AFM (C-AFM) both in contact or tapping mode.…”

SPM based recording toward ultrahigh density recording with trillion bits/inch/sup 2/

“…Many researchers have proposed various SPM (scanning probe microscopy) based storage techniques [1], [2]. We have also proposed STM (scanning tunneling microscopy) based storage [3], AFM based storage [4], MFM (magnetic force microscopy) based storage [5], and SNOM (scanning near-field optical microscopy) based storage [6].…”

Electric Surface Modification of Diamond Like Carbon Film

“…The diameter decreased almost linearly with decrease of the pulse width in the range from 1000ms to 10ms. Electric surface modifications of graphite using SPM were carried out by some researchers [1,[10][11][12]. Graphite is conductive and composed of carbon atoms as well as the present DLC sample.…”

“…As the tip of an SPM probe is very sharp, we can record and read small dots or letters on solid surfaces [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. This technology is called "point recording".…”