Manipulation and writing with Ag nanocrystals on Si(111)-7×7

Abstract
Manipulation of Ag nanocrystals derived from up to 200 000 atoms was performed using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. By varying the scanning conditions, it was possible to move them laterally on contamination-free Si(111)-7×7 surfaces or to remove them. In both cases, thin Ag tracks were left behind. This demonstrates the concepts of nano patterning and nano painting with metals on clean semiconductor surfaces.