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Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics

EPJ AP Review - Imaging, single atom contact and single atom manipulations at low temperature

The LT-UHV-4-STM head and a 5.12 x 5.12 nm2 STM image of a letter C constructed atom by atom with 6 Au ad-atoms on Au(111) using here scanner PS3. I = 50 pA, V = 500 mV with ΔZ = 0.12 nm. Single atom manipulations tunnel resistance: 333 KΩ.

The new ScientaOmicron LT-UHV scanning tunneling microscope is installed at Pico-Lab CEMES-CNRS (Toulouse) with its 4 STM scanners performing on the same surface. At 4.3 K, we report state-of-the-art STM experiments on Au(111) usually performed on the most stable single tip LT-UHV scanning tunneling microscopes.

Operating the 4 scanners independently or in parallel with an inter tip apex distance lower than 100 nm, the ΔZ stability is better than 2 pm per STM. Single Au atom manipulations were performed on Au(111) recording the pulling, sliding or pushing signal. When contacting one Au ad-atom, a jump to contact leads to a perfect linear low voltage I-V characteristics with no averaging. Two tips surface conductance measurements were also performed with one lock-in and in a floating sample mode to capture the Au(111) surface states via two STM tips dI/dV characteristics. This new instrument is exactly 4 times as precise as a single tip LT-UHV STM.

Editors-in-Chief
A. Beige, J. Burgdörfer and S. Ptasinska
Thank you very much for the super-efficient handling of my manuscript.

Xin Zhang

ISSN (Print Edition): 1434-6060
ISSN (Electronic Edition): 1434-6079

© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag