Toggling the local surface work function by pinning individual promoter atoms

Abstract
Atom by atom control over the local work function of a surface has been performed by using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope to move and pin individual promoter atoms at predetermined atomic sites on the surface. Both positive and negative local work-function changes could be achieved, depending on the exact binding configuration of the pinned promoter atoms. This manipulation of individual promoter atoms has been exploited for testing the fabrication of atomic-scale chemical “seeds.”