Automated Scanning Tunneling Microscope image analysis of Si (100):H 2×1 surfaces

Abstract

Graphical abstracttDisplay Omitted Highlights? Automated image analysis of Si surfaces supports scanning probe lithography. ? Atomic terraces, dimers, vacancies, and dangling bonds are identified. ? This technology supports a program for atomically precise manufacturing. Analysis of Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) images 1] is being pursued, in our case to enable the identification of atomic terraces, Si dimers, dangling bonds, vacancies, and surface contamination on Si (100) 2i?1 H passivated surfaces. This analytical technique is a critical component of Atomically Precise Manufacturing, aiding in the automation of H depassivation lithography 2,3] and patterned Si atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) 4] where it is necessary to register, in an automated process, each lithography step to the desired pattern with atomic precision. We have previously presented work 5] showing that after least squares plane fitting histogram analysis could provide a quantitative measure of image quality and that simple thresholds could be used to identify some dimers and vacancies if the image resolution was high enough. That work was done with a series of image analysis techniques selected manually and required high image quality with a single atomic terrace preferred.