STM study of Au(111) growth on mica

Gold films were thermally evaporated in vacuum on heated cleaved mica substrates. The substrate temperature was immediately decreased after finishing the growth. Samples prepared at various temperatures from 580 K to 890 K and evaporation rates smaller than 1 nm/s were studied by a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) under ambient conditions. Structure and defects of Au(111) surfaces were investigated and discussed with respect to growth conditions.     

STM study of selenium adsorption on Au(111) surface

Adsorption of chalcogen atoms on metal surfaces has attracted increasing interest for both the fundamental research and industrial applications. Here, we report a systematic study of selenium(Se) adsorption on Au(111) at varies substrate temperatures by scanning tunneling microscopy. At room temperature, small Se clusters are randomly dispersed on the surface. Increasing the temperature up to 200℃, a well-ordered lattice of Se molecules consisting of 8 Se atoms in ringlike structure is formed. Further increasing the temperature to 250℃ gives rise to the formation of Se monolayer with Au(111)-3~(1/2) ×3~(1/2) lattices superimposed with a quasi-hexagonal lattice. Desorption of Se atoms rather than the reaction between the Se atoms and the Au substrate occurs if further increasing the temperature. The ordered structures of selenium monolayers could serve as templates for self-assemblies and our findings in this work might provide insightful guild for the epitaxial growth of the two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides.     

Au-CdSe纳米异质结在Au(111)表面上的分散与STM表征

研究单个Au-CdSe纳米异质结在经过表面修饰的Au(111)上的分散并进行STM表征. 发现衬底表面的自组装分子层的顶端功能基团对于形成良好的异质结分散状态非常重要. STM表明,巯基和羧酸基都能与异质结的Au纳米颗粒部分形成强烈的相互作用,从而将异质结有效地抓住,避免了团聚现象,便于异质结形成孤立分散的样品结构. 还可以采用条件适中的氩离子溅射技术来清除样品表面残留的有机物,从而得到较清晰的单个Au-CdSe纳米异质结的STM图像.     

Model calculations of STM imaging and manipulation of oxygen on Pt(111)

We study tip-adsorbate–substrate interactions in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) manipulation and imaging, and the influence of impurities on the images. Thence, we perform molecular dynamics simulations and calculate qualitative STM images for oxygen on Pt(1 1 1) surface. The adsorption site of the oxygen molecule is found to be in accordance with ab initio calculations. The calculated STM image has a good resemblance to the experimental ones. The contamination of the tip by oxygen or water alters the STM image strongly. Molecular dynamics simulations on manipulations of oxygen on the surface reveal several mechanisms of how molecular oxygen can be either produced or decomposed with STM tip. Finally, we find out that transfer of oxygen from the surface to an STM tip is not very probable.     

Island formation and manipulation of prochiral azobenzene derivatives on Au(111)

Based on previous work with very similar azobenzene derivatives, this study of para-TBA (2,2',5,5'-tetra-tert-butylazobenzene) molecules aims to identify single intact molecules and investigate their adsorption behavior on a Au(111) surface. The molecules are found to be mobile on the surface at the deposition temperature, leading to highly ordered and enantiomerically pure molecular islands. Voltage pulses between the surface and the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope are used to change the chirality of the adsorbate molecules. On the Cu(111) surface instead, single molecules are found on the terraces, which points to a stronger molecule-substrate interaction.     

Low-temperature STM/STS investigation of nanostructures created by an STM tip on Au(111) surfaces

The structural stability of rapidly solidified (about 10⁴ K/s) Sn–3.7Ag–0.9Zn eutectic solder was explored by high-temperature annealing. For the as-cast solders, the applied fast cooling rate had a significant influence on the microstructure of the solders. The faster the applied cooling rates, the smaller the β-Sn dendrites. After annealing at 473 K for 20 and 50 h, β-Sn dendrites congregated together into bulk ones for minimizing the interfacial energy, and Ag₃Sn intermetallic compounds (IMCs) as well as ternary Ag–Zn–Sn IMCs segregated on the grain boundary of the β-Sn dendrites. It seems that the coarsening of the β-Sn dendrites in the rapidly solidified specimen brought a significant softening during annealing of the explored Sn–Ag–Zn alloy. Finally, the β-Sn dendrites vanished gradually with increase of the annealing period, which leads to a kind of softening.     

Adsorption and rotational barrier for a single azobenzene molecule on Au(111) surface

The orientation switching of a single azobenzene molecule on Au(111) surface excited by tunneling electrons and/or photons has been demonstrated in recent experiments. Here we investigate the rotation behavior of this molecular rotor by first-principles density functional theory(DFT) calculation. The anchor phenyl ring prefers adsorption on top of the fcc hollow site, simulated by a benzene molecule on close packed atomic surface. The adsorption energy for an azobenzene molecule on Au(111) surface is calculated to be about 1.76 e V. The rotational energy profile has been mapped with one of the phenyl rings pivots around the fcc hollow site, illustrating a potential barrier about 50 me V. The results are consistent with experimental observations and valuable for exploring a broad spectrum of molecules on this noble metal surface.     

Molecules with multiple switching units on a Au(111) surface: self-organization and single-molecule manipulation

Three different molecules, each containing two azobenzene switching units, were synthesized, successfully deposited onto a Au(111) surface by sublimation and studied by scanning tunneling microscopy at low temperatures. To investigate the influence of electronic coupling between the switching units as well as to the surface, the two azo moieties were connected either via π-conjugated para-phenylene or decoupling meta-phenylene bridges, and the number of tert-butyl groups was varied in the meta-phenylene-linked derivatives. Single molecules were found to be intact after deposition as identified by their characteristic appearance in STM images. Due to their mobility on the Au(111) surface at room temperature, the molecules spontaneously formed self-organized molecular arrangements that reflected their chemical structure. While lateral displacement of the molecules was accomplished by manipulation, trans-cis isomerization processes, typical for azobenzene switches, could not be induced.     

2-Mercaptopyrimidine as a suitable matrix to trap arenes on Au(111): STM probing of the modified surface

2-Mercaptopyrimidine (2MPy) forms a two-dimensional planar lattice on Au(1 1 1). This structure is able to intercalate guest molecules such as the oligopyridines. To test the ability of the 2MPy lattice as a host able to intercalate a variety of molecules regardless of their geometry and electronic structures, some arenes and polyenes were analyzed as possible guests. Benzene, naphthalene, azulene, phenanthrene, anthracene, biphenyl, fluorobenzene and durene were selected to coadsorb with 2MPy on the Au(1 1 1) surface. These arenes are not known to form stable layers on Au(1 1 1); their adsorption is often studied on Pt and Rh surfaces. The experimental data show that the arenes and polyenes selected coadsorb with 2MPy on Au(1 1 1) under defined experimental conditions, forming a mixed layer with stoichiometry of 2:1 in thiol:guest. The STM contrast observed for the guest molecules is compared to the experimental and theoretical results already published.     

Electric-dipole layer on Au(111) surfaces

We measured the barrier height (BH) a UHV scanning tunneling microscope on Au(111) surfaces with Au, Pt, and carbon nanotube tips. The 222?{^[¯] }3^[¯]\sqrt\Box3\Box]] reconstruction was observed with all the tips, and the current-voltage relation reflected the density of states of the tips. The BH measured on the reconstructed Au(111) surface using a modulation method showed a bias-polarity dependence as 30%, at low currents (<100 pA) irrespective of the tip material, while on unreconstructed Au surfaces, BH values were independent of the bias polarity, suggesting a dipole layer originating from the reconstructed Au(111) surface.     

Ag(111)和Au(111)上铋的初始生长行为

半金属铋(Bi)的表面合金具有的Rashba效应,和其具体结构性质有重要关联.本文结合扫描隧道显微镜(STM)和密度泛函理论(DFT),系统地研究了Bi原子在Ag(111)和Au(111)上的不同初始生长行为.在室温Ag(111)上,连续的Ag2Bi合金薄膜会优先在Ag台阶边缘形成;在570 K Ag(111)上,随着...     

Observation of sputtering damage on Au(111)

The morphology of a Au(111) surface has been observed with the STM (scanning tunneling microscope) after ion bombardment with 2.5 keV Ne⁺ ions at about 400 K. Mostly triangular and hexagonal shaped vacancy islands are seen in the STM topographs. They are bounded by monatomic steps, oriented along the closed packed 110 directions. The general morphology confirms the conclusions inferred from TEAS (thermal energy atom scattering) measurements on ion bombarded Pt(111) surfaces. The observation of a propensity for the formation of {100} microfacetted 110 ledges is discussed.     

Adsorption of 5-halouracils on Au(111)

The immobilization of 5-halouracils on Au(111) has been studied by soft X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. Multilayer and monolayer films of 5-chlorouracil were deposited on the Au(111) surface by evaporation in vacuum while films of 5-bromouracil were absorbed in two modes: from the gas phase under ultrahigh vacuum conditions and from solution. The photoemission spectra of C, N and O 1s, Br 3d and Cl 2p as well as the absorption spectra at the N and O K-edges were measured for monolayers of 5-halouracil films and the nature of the bonding with the Au(111) surface has been determined. From the angular dependence of the NEXAFS spectra at the O and K-edges, we conclude that these 5-halouracils are lying nearly parallel to the Au(111) surface. Distinct chemical states and surface adsorption geometry of the 5-BrU molecules for monolayer coverage prepared in two different ways have been found.     

STM characterisation of organic molecules on H-terminated Si(111)

We present the first high resolution STM images of organic molecules on the technological important hydrogen terminated silicon surface. Ordered layers of PTCDA and PTCDI were prepared on this surface by organic molecular beam epitaxy. The submolecular contrast of these molecules on Si(111)/H obtained in the high resolution images agrees with the corresponding images on HOPG and MoS₂ substrates.     

Submonolayer Au on Si(111) phase diagram

Based on a review of the current literature, a surface phase diagram is proposed for the submonolayer Au on Si(111) system. Kinetic considerations are reviewed and key surface phase diagram features such as the Θ < 0.4 ML metastable structure and the high temperature to Si(111)-(1 × 1)Au second order phase transition are discussed. Experiments to verify certain portions of the phase diagram are proposed.     

Organizing C60 molecules on a nanostructured Au(111) surface

We have studied, using scanning tunneling microscopy, the adsorption of C₆₀ molecules on a nanostructured Au(111) surface consisting of artificially created two-dimensional cavities. These cavities, one atomic layer deep, are found to be effective as molecular traps at room temperature. Gold atoms at step edges are found to respond to the adsorption of C₆₀ molecules and gross faceting is observed for steps connected with R30° oriented C₆₀ molecular islands. Structural models are proposed to establish the step structures related to all three types of molecular islands.     

Structural manipulation of ultrathin organic films on metal surfaces: the case of decane thiol/Au(111)

3 (CH₂)₉]SH) have been adsorbed on Au(111) single crystals both via vacuum deposition and from an ethanolic solution. The epitaxial structure of the ultrathin organic films has been identified at room temperature via low-energy electron diffraction to be c(4×2)R30° for the solution grown film and rectangular c(23×) for the vacuum deposited film. These structures correspond to molecules adsorbed on the surface with their carbon chains flat on the surface (vacuum deposited) and nearly perpendicular (solution grown). It is demonstrated that this orientation can be changed reversibly in vacuum via either annealing the films or exposing them to additional gas. Received: 7 February 1997/Accepted: 27 May 1997