O Gurlu 1,3, A van Houselt 1,4, W H A Thijssen 2, J M van Ruitenbeek 2, B Poelsema 1 and H J W Zandvliet 1
1
Solid State Physics and Physical Aspects of Nanotechnology, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
2
Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory, Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, Leiden 2333 CA, The Netherlands
3
Present address: Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstraße 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
4
Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed
O Gurlu et al 2007 Nanotechnology 18 365305
The possibility of controlled local demolition and repair of the recently discovered self-organized Pt nanowires on Ge(001) surfaces has been explored. These nanowires are composed of Pt dimers, which are found to be rather weakly bound to the underlying substrate. Using this property, we demonstrate the possibility of carrying the constituting dimers of the Pt nanowires from point to point with atomic precision at room temperature. Pt dimers can be picked-up in two configurations: (i) a horizontal configuration at the tip apex, resulting in double tip images and (ii) a configuration where the Pt dimer is attached to the side of the tip apex, resulting in well-defined atomically resolved images.
Issue 36 (12 September 2007)
Received 11 April 2007
,
in final form 10 July 2007
Published 14 August 2007
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