Lateral manipulation of adatoms and native substrate atoms with the low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope

Abstract

The controlled lateral manipulation of single atoms and molecules on a metal surface with a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope is presented. The design of the low-temperature STM, which operates in the temperature range between 15 and 300 K, and experimental aspects important for manipulation are discussed. After an introduction to the basic principles of lateral manipulation it is shown that single atoms/molecules can be pushed and pulled with the tip. Apart from the manipulation of adspecies it is also possible to extract substrate atoms out of kink s sites and from step edges. A complete series of manipulation processes with substrate atoms, which permit an atom-by-atom restructuring of a metal surface, is shown.