Nonlocal Desorption of Chlorobenzene Molecules from theSi(111)−(7×7)Surface by Charge Injection from the Tip of a Scanning Tunneling Microscope: Remote Control o

Abstract

We report the nonlocal desorption of chlorobenzene molecules from the Si(111)-(7×7) surface by charge injection from the laterally distant tip of a scanning tunneling microscope and demonstrate remote control of the manipulation process by precise selection of the atomic site for injection. Nonlocal desorption decays exponentially as a function of radial distance (decay length ∼100 A) from the injection site. Electron injection at corner-hole and faulted middle adatoms sites couples preferentially to the desorption of distant adsorbate molecules. Molecules on the faulted half of the unit cell desorb with higher probability than those on the unfaulted half.

Hot Carrier-Induced Tautomerization within a Single Porphycene Molecule on Cu(111)

“…8 Additionally, the tautomerization behavior has been controlled by modifying the local surroundings of a molecule by using atom/molecule manipulation with an 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 4 STM. 4 Adsorbate reactions can be induced by the STM not only directly under the tip, but also at lateral distances from it (up to ~100 nm in an extreme case), 6,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16 allowing remote control of adsorbate reactions. For such non-local reactions, the transport of hot carriers or the effect of an electric field has been proposed as a possible mechanism.…”

Hot carrier-selective chemical reactions on Ag(110)

“…The nonlocal activation of molecules has been observed in several systems 1-6 and is believed to result from (i) the electric field; 1 (ii) from hot electrons propagating through a surface, 2 organic thin film, 3 or self-assembled molecular chain; 4 or (iii) from mixing the molecular orbitals with the metal surface states. 5 The processes associated with ice nanocluster diffusion and hydrogen bond rearrangement in clusters on Au(111) 7 or the desorption of chlorobenzene from Si(111) 8 can be activated nonlocally by means of electron tunneling. Selective control over diffusion or desorption has been achieved by varying the distance between a molecule of interest 7 and an injection site.…”

“…Selective control over diffusion or desorption has been achieved by varying the distance between a molecule of interest 7 and an injection site. 8 Nonlocal activation is of particular interest in the field of nanoelectronics because charge transfer between adsorbed molecules and a surface determines the efficiency of a molecular electronic device 9 or the output of a hot carrier-induced solar cell. 10 Charge carriers, which are primarily injected using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip, may be transferred to a reaction site directly or indirectly through surface states over long distances.…”

Remotely Controlled Isomer Selective Molecular Switching

“…Hot carriers that are injected from an STM tip can travel laterally in the surface state to the molecule and induce reactions in a spatially extended area around the tip location. In this context, it has been shown that molecules can be dissociated in a certain radius around the tip, which however is an irreversible process [14][15][16][17] . For actual devices reversible processes are much more relevant.…”