CONTROLLED VERTICAL AND LATERAL MANIPULATION OF SINGLE ATOMS AND MOLECULES WITH THE SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE

We report on the successful controlled vertical manipulation of single Xe atoms with the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) at a temperature of 15 K. In transferring Xe atoms from the Cu(211) substrate to the STM tip and releasing them back to the surface we used a technique similar to that employed previously by Eigler and collaborators. We demonstrate that with the well defined Xe-tip the substrate is imaged with appreciably better resolution. We show further that nanostructures built at 15 K with CO molecules by employing lateral manipulation are much more stable than those produced at 30 K, on which we reported previously. As an important consequence such structures can be produced quicker and with larger precision.