Cyclic Single Atom Vertical Manipulation on a Nonmetallic Surface

Abbasi-Pérez, David; Sang, Hongqian; Junqueira, Filipe L Q; Sweetman, Adam; Recio, J. Manuel; Moriarty, Philip; Kantorovich, Lev

Abstract

Motivated by the quest for experimental procedures capable of controlled manipulation of single atoms on surfaces, we set up a computational strategy that explores the cyclical vertical manipulation of a broad set of single atoms on the GaAs(110) surface. First-principles simulations of atomic force microscope tip-sample interactions were performed considering families of GaAs and Au-terminated tip apexes with varying crystalline termination. We identified a subset of tips capable of both picking up and depositing an adatom (Ga, As, Al, and Au) any number of times via a modify-restore cycle that "resets"the apex of the scanning probe to its original structure at the end of each cycle. Manipulation becomes successful within a certain window of lateral and vertical tip distances that are observed to be different for extracting and depositing each atom. A practical experimental protocol of special utility for potential cyclical manipulation of single atoms on a nonmetallic surface is proposed.

Citation

Abbasi-Pérez, D., Sang, H., Junqueira, F. L. Q., Sweetman, A., Recio, J. M., Moriarty, P., & Kantorovich, L. (2021). Cyclic Single Atom Vertical Manipulation on a Nonmetallic Surface. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 12(46), 11383-11390. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c02271

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 3, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Nov 16, 2021
• Publication Date: Nov 25, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jan 13, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 13, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
• Electronic ISSN: 1948-7185
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 46
• Pages: 11383-11390
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c02271
• Keywords: General Materials Science; Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/6240815
• Publisher URL: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c02271