Atom transfer and single-adatom contacts

The point contact of a tunnel tip approaching towards Ag(111) and Cu(111) surfaces is investigated with a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. A sharp jump to contact, random in nature, is observed in the conductance. After point contact, the tip-apex atom is transferred to the surface, in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2005-04, Vol.94 (12), p.126102.1-126102.4, Article 126102
Main Authors: LIMOT, L, KRÖGER, J, BERNDT, R, GARCIA-LEKUE, A, HOFER, W. A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Electron, ion, and scanning probe microscopy
Exact sciences and technology
Physics
Scanning probe microscopy: scanning tunneling, atomic force, scanning optical, magnetic force, etc
Structure of solids and liquids
crystallography
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Summary:The point contact of a tunnel tip approaching towards Ag(111) and Cu(111) surfaces is investigated with a low temperature scanning tunneling microscope. A sharp jump to contact, random in nature, is observed in the conductance. After point contact, the tip-apex atom is transferred to the surface, indicating that a one-atom contact is formed during the approach. In sharp contrast, the conductance over single silver and copper adatoms exhibits a smooth and reproducible transition from tunneling to contact regime. Numerical simulations show that this is a consequence of the additional dipolar bonding between the adatom and the surface atoms.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.126102