Electromigration-induced directional steps towards the formation of single atomic Ag contacts

• Atasi Chatterjee,
• Christoph Tegenkamp and
• Herbert Pfnür

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 680–687, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.55

• break junctions (MCBJ), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and electromigration (EM). All these techniques rely on conductance histograms as a statistical tool in order to find the configurations of high stability. Conductance histograms provide information about the most probable conductance values

Atomic-resolution imaging of rutile TiO₂(110)-(1 × 2) reconstructed surface by non-contact atomic force microscopy

• Daiki Katsube,
• Shoki Ojima,
• Eiichi Inami and
• Masayuki Abe

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 443–449, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.35

• , because it cannot be clarified whether the (1 × 2) structure is formed over a wide area or only locally using macroscopic analysis methods such as diffraction. We used non-contact atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and low-energy electron diffraction at room temperature to

• clean surface is relatively easy. A well-known rutile TiO2(110) surface is the (1 × 1) structure [2]. The (1 × 1) surface has been studied using low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) [3][4], surface X-ray diffraction [5], non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) [6][7][8][9], scanning tunneling

• -AFM and tunneling current for STM), the surface structure sometimes results in different contrasts in both images. In Figure 3, white squares and circles indicate line defects and protrusions, which are considered to be adsorbates or contamination. A line defect was imaged as a likely vacancy by STM

High dynamic resistance elements based on a Josephson junction array

• Konstantin Yu. Arutyunov and
• Janne S. Lehtinen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 417–420, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.32

• here the finite electric current is maintained by correlated Cooper pair tunneling at a voltage bias V across the QPSJ exceeding the particular Coulomb blockade threshold, VC [14]. The tunneling happens at the Bloch oscillation rate, fB. The synchronization of this “internal” periodic process with the

Anomalous current–voltage characteristics of SFIFS Josephson junctions with weak ferromagnetic interlayers

• Tairzhan Karabassov,
• Anastasia V. Guravova,
• Aleksei Yu. Kuzin,
• Elena A. Kazakova,
• Shiro Kawabata,
• Boris G. Lvov and
• Andrey S. Vasenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 252–262, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.19

• technique, which has been developed to describe many-body systems in equilibrium at finite temperature [92]. In our model the tunneling barrier is located between two F layers at x = 0 (Figure 1), whereas the other interfaces at x = −df1 and x = df2 are identical and transparent. This case corresponds to

Nonequilibrium Kondo effect in a graphene-coupled quantum dot in the presence of a magnetic field

• Levente Máthé and
• Ioan Grosu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 225–239, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.17

• points the energy dispersion of quasiparticles in graphene is linear in momentum. This linear band structure is called a Dirac cone, and it is at the basis of many interesting physical phenomena such as the ’chiral’ quantum Hall effect [51], the Klein tunneling effect [50] and the Aharonov–Bohm effect

• that the Kondo resonance appears only in a narrow energy range for the impurity level with respect to the chemical potential (μ), and the energy scale is proportional to |μ|. The Kondo effect of an adatom on the surface of graphene and its scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) have been analyzed by

• regimes, the shape of the Kondo resonance is influenced by the Fano resonance. However, the tunneling between the STM tip and graphene does not obviously affect the shape of the Kondo resonance in the vicinity of zero bias. Yanagisawa investigated the Kondo effect induced by the s–d interaction with Dirac

Size effects of graphene nanoplatelets on the properties of high-density polyethylene nanocomposites: morphological, thermal, electrical, and mechanical characterization

• Tuba Evgin,
• Alpaslan Turgut,
• Georges Hamaoui,
• Zdenko Spitalsky,
• Nicolas Horny,
• Matej Micusik,
• Mihai Chirtoc,
• Mehmet Sarikanat and
• Maria Omastova

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 167–179, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.14

• conductivity was dependent on the frequency. The first part was linked to the transfer of charge carriers by direct contacts between the GnP filler, while the second part reflected the conductivity due to hopping and tunneling of electrons between adjacent particles [26]. It was apparent that the critical

Molecular architectonics of DNA for functional nanoarchitectures

• Debasis Ghosh,
• Lakshmi P. Datta and
• Thimmaiah Govindaraju

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 124–140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.11

Nanosecond resistive switching in Ag/AgI/PtIr nanojunctions

• Botond Sánta,
• Dániel Molnár,
• Patrick Haiber,
• Agnes Gubicza,
• Edit Szilágyi,
• Zsolt Zolnai,
• András Halbritter and
• Miklós Csontos

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 92–100, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.9

• to fire 500 ps long set/reset voltage pulses and acquire the resulting resistive switching at 1 GHz bandwidth. Results and Discussion Structural and electrical characterization Memristive nanojunctions were created by approaching a mechanically sharpened PtIr tip of a custom-built scanning tunneling

• keep the junction resistance in the targeted metallic resistance range, where the nonlinear tunneling I(V) characteristics, which are unfavorable for neuromorphic operations, are avoided. These characteristics were further investigated as a function of the amplitude and the frequency fdrive of the

Antimony deposition onto Au(111) and insertion of Mg

• Lingxing Zan,
• Da Xing,
• Abdelaziz Ali Abd-El-Latif and
• Helmut Baltruschat

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2541–2552, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.245

• (CV) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Monolayer deposition results in a characteristic row structure; the monolayer is commensurate in one dimension, but not in the other. The row structure is to some extent maintained after deposition of further layers. After dissolution of the Sb multilayers

• electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy (EC-STM). A detailed study on the structure of the irreversibly adsorbed oxygenous Sb(III) species and the Sb adlayer on Au(100) was carried out by Hara et al. and Yan et al. [9][10]. Jung investigated the structure of the irreversibly adsorbed oxygenous Sb(III

• LabVIEW software (National Instruments GmbH, Munich, Germany) for recording the cyclic voltammograms (CVs). Electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy (EC-STM) measurements All EC-STM measurements were performed with an Agilent Technologies 5500 scanning probe microscope (SPM) and a commercially

Mobility of charge carriers in self-assembled monolayers

• Zhihua Fu,
• Tatjana Ladnorg,
• Hartmut Gliemann,
• Alexander Welle,
• Asif Bashir,
• Michael Rohwerder,
• Qiang Zhang,
• Björn Schüpbach,
• Andreas Terfort and
• Christof Wöll

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2449–2458, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.235

• vertical charge transport through individual molecules of aromatic SAMs by using conductive atomic force microscope (c-AFM) [12][13][14][15] and scanning tunneling microscope (STM) techniques [16][17]. Using these methods, current–voltage (I–V-) curves on the SAM-forming organothiolates has been determined

• (Goodfellow). All data were collected in a constant-current mode with typical tunneling currents of 0.1–0.15 nA and a sample bias of 0.5–0.7 V. NEXAFS spectroscopy measurements were performed at the HE-SGM dipole beamline at synchrotron facility BESSY II, which is a part of the Helmholtz-Zentrum, Berlin. A

Nontoxic pyrite iron sulfide nanocrystals as second electron acceptor in PTB7:PC₇₁BM-based organic photovoltaic cells

• Olivia Amargós-Reyes,
• José-Luis Maldonado,
• Omar Martínez-Alvarez,
• María-Elena Nicho,
• José Santos-Cruz,
• Juan Nicasio-Collazo,
• Irving Caballero-Quintana and
• Concepción Arenas-Arrocena

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2238–2250, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.216

• Committee on Powder Diffraction Standards) card), which is in good agreement with the reported cubic morphology [49]. FeS2 thin films were analyzed using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to study their molecular ordering at the nanoscale level. Figure 3a shows the STM image. The scanned area (A), the

• tunneling current (It) and the applied potential (U) are A = 50 nm × 50 nm, It = 500 pA and U = 450 mV. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of agglomerated FeS2 NCs is shown in Figure 3b. The results verify that the sizes of the NCs lie within the nanoscale regime (about 15 to 25 nm). The energy

Kelvin probe force microscopy work function characterization of transition metal oxide crystals under ongoing reduction and oxidation

• Dominik Wrana,
• Karol Cieślik,
• Wojciech Belza,
• Christian Rodenbücher,
• Krzysztof Szot and
• Franciszek Krok

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1596–1607, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.155

• the present case of thermally reduced SrTiO3(100), the dominant reconstruction is (√5×√5)R26.6°, which forms on the TiO2 termination, as proved by the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) investigations (see Figure 5g,h). The surface is composed of two

Kelvin probe force microscopy of the nanoscale electrical surface potential barrier of metal/semiconductor interfaces in ambient atmosphere

• Petr Knotek,
• Tomáš Plecháček,
• Jan Smolík,
• Petr Kutálek,
• Filip Dvořák,
• Milan Vlček,
• Jiří Navrátil and
• Čestmír Drašar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1401–1411, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.138

• tunneling microscopy (STM) [27][28] or by using AFM in the semicontact mode. The latter enables a describtion not only of the topography (size and shape) but also a detection of the changes in density, stiffness and adhesion of NPs [20][21][24][29][30]. In the present study we demonstrate that the Schottky

Molecular attachment to a microscope tip: inelastic tunneling, Kondo screening, and thermopower

• Rouzhaji Tuerhong,
• Mauro Boero and
• Jean-Pierre Bucher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1243–1250, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.124

• Rouzhaji Tuerhong Mauro Boero Jean-Pierre Bucher Université de Strasbourg, IPCMS UMR 70504, 67034 Strasbourg, France 10.3762/bjnano.10.124 Abstract The vibrational excitation related transport properties of a manganese phthalocyanine molecule suspended between the tip of a scanning tunneling

• microsope (STM) and a surface are investigated by combining the local manipulation capabilities of the STM with inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy. By attachment of the molecule to the probe tip, the intrinsic physical properties similar to those exhibited by a free standing molecule become

• thermopower measured across the single-molecule junction. Keywords: inelastic electron tunneling; molecular quantum dot; Kondo physics; single molecule; thermopower; tunnel junction; Introduction Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) has the capability to detect the electron transport through a molecule not

Imaging the surface potential at the steps on the rutile TiO₂(110) surface by Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Masato Miyazaki,
• Huan Fei Wen,
• Quanzhen Zhang,
• Yuuki Adachi,
• Jan Brndiar,
• Ivan Štich,
• Yan Jun Li and
• Yasuhiro Sugawara

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1228–1236, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.122

• observed with a lateral resolution of several nanometers by Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) [29][30]. However, the dependence of surface potential on direction and structure of steps such as [001], and has not yet been clarified. In scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) [31] studies, three typical

• several factors can be considered: a phantom force derived from the flow of a tunneling current [48][49], the local adsorption of molecules, the localization of defect states [55][56], the induced dipole moment [50], the unintentional change in tip–sample distance [57], the electron redistribution due to

• orbital splitting [18] and the Smoluchowski effect [58]. First, we analyze the influence of a tunneling current flowing between the tip and the sample, i.e., a phantom force. The probability of tunneling depends on the atomic site. This may influence the observed CPD value, but it should be excluded as

Pure and mixed ordered monolayers of tetracyano-2,6-naphthoquinodimethane and hexathiapentacene on the Ag(100) surface

• Robert Harbers,
• Timo Heepenstrick,
• Dmitrii F. Perepichka and
• Moritz Sokolowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1188–1199, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.118

• structures are formed on a surface by molecules that are otherwise typically used for the synthesis of bulk charge-transfer materials. The layers were obtained by vacuum deposition on the Ag(100) surface and analyzed by low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The

• a planar orientation on the surface. We discuss the influence of intermolecular charge transfer on the ordering in the mixed structure. Keywords: charge transfer; low-energy electron diffraction; hexathiapentacene; scanning tunneling microscopy; tetracyano-2,6-naphthoquinodimethane; Introduction

• :1 stoichiometry. Experimental The experiments were conducted in an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber with a base pressure of 10−10 mbar. The chamber was equipped with a variable-temperature scanning tunneling microscope STM (type RHK UHV 300) from RHK Technologies and a multi-channel plate (MCP) low

In situ AFM visualization of Li–O₂ battery discharge products during redox cycling in an atmospherically controlled sample cell

• Kumar Virwani,
• Younes Ansari,
• Khanh Nguyen,
• Francisco José Alía Moreno-Ortiz,
• Jangwoo Kim,
• Maxwell J. Giammona,
• Ho-Cheol Kim and
• Young-Hye La

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 930–940, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.94

• these redox materials at the micrometer and nanometer scales. Gewirth et al. [2] reviewed the use of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) investigations of phenomena such as reconstructions, restructuring and adsorption of ions. Phenomena such as under-potential

Capillary force-induced superlattice variation atop a nanometer-wide graphene flake and its moiré origin studied by STM

• Loji K. Thomas and
• Michael Reichling

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 804–810, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.80

• superlattices on graphite by imaging a live transition from one superlattice to another with concurrent and direct measurement of the orientation angle before and after rotation using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). This has been possible due to a fortuitous observation of a superlattice on a nanometer

Coexisting spin and Rabi oscillations at intermediate time regimes in electron transport through a photon cavity

• Vidar Gudmundsson,
• Hallmann Gestsson,
• Nzar Rauf Abdullah,
• Chi-Shung Tang,
• Andrei Manolescu and
• Valeriu Moldoveanu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 606–616, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.61

• coexisting radiative transitions and photon-assisted tunneling [9]. The characteristic time of the transient and the intermediate regime depends on the the ratio of the system lead coupling and the electron–photon coupling in addition to the shape or geometry of the central system and the photon energy [13

• ]. The formation of very slow Rabi-like spin-flip transitions promoted by the interplay of tunneling and spin orbit interactions in a system of double quantum dots has been studied by Khomitsky et al. [14]. In earlier publications we have shown how a Rabi oscillation can be detected in the transport of

• approximately one effective magnetic length aw into each subsystem. This approach describing a weak tunneling coupling of the central system and the leads allows for full coupling between the quantum dots and the rest of the central system, like in a scattering approach [21]. Moreover, it conserves parity of

Polymorphic self-assembly of pyrazine-based tectons at the solution–solid interface

• Achintya Jana,
• Puneet Mishra and
• Neeladri Das

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 494–499, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.50

• supramolecular structures is crucial for realizing surface-supported functional molecular devices. Here, we report on the synthesis and surface self-assembly of a new pyrazine-derived molecule with pyridine pendants. Ambient scanning tunneling microscopy investigation at the solution–solid interface reveals

• ); organic molecules; pyrazine; pyridines; scanning tunneling microscopy; self-assembly; Introduction Molecular materials are attracting considerable attention for the fabrication of next-generation functional devices owing to their high density and low power requirements. Several recent studies have

• –HOPG interface using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) technique under ambient conditions. The molecules belong to a new class of pyrazine/triazine-based molecules, containing two or more pyridine pendant units, and can act as a precursor to several two- and three-dimensional supramolecular

Transport signatures of an Andreev molecule in a quantum dot–superconductor–quantum dot setup

• Zoltán Scherübl,
• András Pályi and
• Szabolcs Csonka

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 363–378, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.36

• experiments is to understand the various tunneling-induced non-local interaction mechanisms that are present in the devices, namely crossed Andreev reflection, elastic co-tunneling, and direct interdot tunneling. Here, we provide a theoretical study of a simple device that consists of two quantum dots and a

• experiments and applications. Keywords: Andreev bound state; crossed Andreev reflection; elastic co-tunneling; quantum dot; Introduction Superconducting hybrid nanodevices provide a promising platform for quantum architectures. While superconductors (SCs) allow for a spatially extended coherent state

• quasiparticle states, via the so-called elastic co-tunneling (EC) process [21][23][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68]. Furthermore, if there is direct tunnel coupling between the dots, as in certain experimental realizations [69][70], then this interdot coupling (IT) also influences the

Intuitive human interface to a scanning tunnelling microscope: observation of parity oscillations for a single atomic chain

• Sumit Tewari,
• Jacob Bakermans,
• Christian Wagner,
• Federica Galli and
• Jan M. van Ruitenbeek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 337–348, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.33

• adatom, at a height corresponding to 0.4 μA tunneling current at 100 mV bias, which corresponds to a tunnel gap of 1.2 Å and around 250 kΩ tunnel resistance. Then, the tip is moved towards the adatom under feedback-off conditions while keeping Z constant. Similar to the jump to contact phenomenon that

Nitrous oxide as an effective AFM tip functionalization: a comparative study

• Taras Chutora,
• Bruno de la Torre,
• Pingo Mutombo,
• Jack Hellerstedt,
• Jaromír Kopeček,
• Pavel Jelínek and
• Martin Švec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 315–321, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.30

• spectroscopy measurements, i.e., the interaction energy toward different atomic species in force spectroscopy, the contact potential difference in Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) [9][29] and vibrational levels of inelastic tunneling spectroscopy (IETS) [30][31]. A particular termination of the tip may be

• shows the four peripheral benzene rings, the inner pyrrole groups and a signature of the metal atom at the center. In the STM images both tips detect a dominating electron tunneling contribution of the central Fe molecular orbital at the Fermi level [31] and also the overall shape of the molecule. The

• AFM image taken with the N2O tip exhibits slightly lower resolution, in comparison to the CO tip termination, with a strong directionality of the submolecular features within the peripheral benzene rings. The tunneling current image also reveals a significant shadow cast in the same direction as the

Apparent tunneling barrier height and local work function of atomic arrays

• Neda Noei,
• Alexander Weismann and
• Richard Berndt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3048–3052, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.283

• Neda Noei Alexander Weismann Richard Berndt Institut für Experimentelle und Angewandte Physik, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, 24098 Kiel, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.9.283 Abstract Spatially resolved measurements of the apparent tunneling barrier height Φapp in scanning tunneling microscopy

• have been used to estimate variations of the local work function Φ of surface structures. We experimentally show that Φapp can fail as a measure of Φ. The discrepancies are attributed to a kinetic-energy contribution to Φapp. This contribution depends on the lateral extent of the tunneling current

• filament and, consequently, on the local surface structure. Keywords: scanning tunneling microscopy; tunneling barrier height; work function; Findings The work function of a metal surface [1], the work required at temperature T = 0 K to move an electron from the metal to infinity, is relevant for, e.g

Investigation of CVD graphene as-grown on Cu foil using simultaneous scanning tunneling/atomic force microscopy

• Majid Fazeli Jadidi,
• Umut Kamber,
• Oğuzhan Gürlü and
• H. Özgür Özer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2953–2959, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.274

• Majid Fazeli Jadidi Umut Kamber Oguzhan Gurlu H. Ozgur Ozer Department of Physics Engineering, İstanbul Technical University, 34469, İstanbul, Turkey 10.3762/bjnano.9.274 Abstract Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of graphene reveal either a triangular

• array with maxima located in between the two carbon atoms was acquired in STM topography. Keywords: atomic force microscopy; CVD graphene; scanning tunneling microscopy; simultaneous operation; small amplitude; Introduction Graphene has been widely studied because of its potential use in future

• scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) by various groups [3]. The interaction of graphene with its substrate affects the STM measurements and that casts doubts on its electronic structure. Having the possibility to make simultaneous STM and AFM measurements, on the same area