Abstract
Eigler, Lutz and Rudge have reported a bistable switch that derives its function from the motion of a single Xe atom. It has been shown that this atom can be transfered, in a reversible way, from a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) tip to a sample by means of a voltage pulse. In this work we show that the atom transfer process can be understood in terms of single atom tunneling process. We present a tunneling model, based in the charge transfer from the metal to the 6s resonance of the Xe atoms, which is able to reproduce the experimental results.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
D.M. Eigler, C.P. Lutz and W.E. Rudge, (1991) Nature 352,600
K.S. Rails, D.C. Ralph and R.A. Buhrman, (1989) Phys. Rev. B 40,11561
A.H. Verbruggen, (1988) IBM J. Res. Dev. 32, 93
K. Wandelt and B. Gumhalter, (1984) Surface Science 140, 355
D.M. Eigler, P.S. Weiss, E.K. Schweizer and N.D. Lang, (1991) Phys. Rev. Lett 66, 1189
N. D. Lang, (1987) Phys. Rev. B 36, 8173
J.K. Gimzewski and R. Müller, (1987) Phys. Rev. B 36, 1284
Notice that the apparent height of the xenon atom at 20 MΩ is approximately 1.53 Å and increases about 0.1 Å for each 0.5 Å decrease in D (see ref. 5).
R. Gomer, (1983) in “Surface Mobilities on Solid Materials” p217, ed. by Vu Thien Binh (Plenum, New York)
N.D. Lang and A.R. Williams, (1978) Phys Rev. B 18, 616
N.D. Lang, (1985) Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 230
E. Zaremba and W. Kohn, (1976) Phys. Rev. B 13, 2270
K. Christmann and J.E. Demuth, (1982) Surf. Science 120,291
T. Engel and R. Gomer, (1970) J. Chem. Phys. 52,5572
J.T. Yates and N.E. Erickson, (1974) Surf. Science 64,43
P.M. Morse and H. Feshbach, (1953) “Methods of Theoretical Physics”, p1092, (McGraw Hill, New York)
P.A. Serena, J.M. Soler, and N. García, (1986) Phys. Rev. B 34, 6767; From the image plane results of Serena et al. and the decay length of the xenon wave functions we estimated that the effective image plane is placed at ≈0.5 Å from the Xe equilibrium distance.
J.J. Sáenz, N. García, Vu Thien Binh and H. de Raedt, (1990) in “Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Related Methods”, p. 409, ed. by R.J. Behm, N. García and H. Rohrer (Kluwer Academic)
R.S. Sorbello, Phys. Rev. B 31, 798 (1985)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sáenz, J.J., García, N. (1993). Quantum Atom Switch: Tunneling of Xe Atoms. In: Binh, V.T., Garcia, N., Dransfeld, K. (eds) Nanosources and Manipulation of Atoms Under High Fields and Temperatures: Applications. NATO ASI Series, vol 235. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1729-6_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-1729-6_20
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-4758-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-011-1729-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive