Towards automatic nanomanipulation at the atomic scale

Abstract

Nanomanipulation using Atomic Force or Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (AFM, STM) has at tracted much attention among researchers in recent years. But even on an international scale, nanomanip ulation is operated mostly in manual mode. A scientist carefully carries out each individual move of the manip ulator tip in order to avoid a dead-end situation. The operator has to repeat similar tasks in the same tedious and error-prone way. If nanomanipulation is to come even close to fulfilling its scientific an economic poten tial, the bottleneck of manual operation must be elimi nated. This paper presents our activities and suggestions for automatic nanomanipulation on the atomic scale.