Surface and Interface Physics

The scanning tunneling microscope is proposed as a method to measure forces as small as 10-18 N. As one application for this concept, we introduce a new type of microscope capable of investigating surfaces of insulators on an atomic scale. The…

Surface microscopy using vacuum tunneling is demonstrated for the first time. Topographic pictures of surfaces on an atomic scale have been obtained. Examples of resolved monoatomic steps and surface reconstructions are shown for (110) surfaces of…

Graphene is a rapidly rising star on the horizon of materials science and condensed-matter physics. This strictly two-dimensional material exhibits exceptionally high crystal and electronic quality, and, despite its short history, has already…

In this review, recent developments in the fabrication and understanding of the electronic properties of graphene nanostructures are discussed. After a brief overview of the structure of graphene and the two-dimensional transport properties, the…

In this work we briefly describe the most relevant features of WSXM, a freeware scanning probe microscopy software based on MS-Windows. The article is structured in three different sections: The introduction is a perspective on the importance of…

The fabrication methods of the microelectronics industry have been refined to produce ever smaller devices, but will soon reach their fundamental limits. A promising alternative route to even smaller functional systems with nanometre dimensions is…

Generalized gradient approximations (GGA's) for the exchange-correlation energy improve upon the local spin density (LSD) description of atoms, molecules, and solids. We present a simple derivation of a simple GGA, in which all parameters (other…

Resolving individual atoms has always been the ultimate goal of surface microscopy. The scanning tunneling microscope images atomic-scale features on surfaces, but resolving single atoms within an adsorbed molecule remains a great challenge because…

A theory is presented for vacuum tunneling between a real solid surface and a model probe with a locally spherical tip, applicable to the recently developed "scanning tunneling microscope." Calculations for 21 and 31 reconstructions of Au(110) are…

Ultrathin insulating NaCl films have been employed to decouple individual pentacene molecules electronically from the metallic substrate. This allows the inherent electronic structure of the free molecule to be preserved and studied by means of…

We present a theory for tunneling between a real surface and a model probe tip, applicable to the recently developed scanning tunneling microscope. The tunneling current is found to be proportional to the local density of states of the surface, at…

This article reviews the progress of atomic force microscopy (AFM) in ultra-high vacuum, starting with its invention and covering most of the recent developments. Today, dynamic force microscopy allows to image surfaces of conductors emphand…

Significant progress has been made both in experimentation and in theoretical modeling of scanning probe microscopy. The theoretical models used to analyze and interpret experimental scanning probe microscope (SPM) images and spectroscopic data now…

Scanning tunnelling microscopy and atomic force microscopy can be used to study the electronic and structural properties of surfaces, as well as molecules and nanostructures adsorbed on surfaces, with atomic precision, but they cannot directly probe…

We report on the first successful tunneling experiment with an externally and reproducibly adjustable vacuum gap. The observation of vacuum tunneling is established by the exponential dependence of the tunneling resistance on the width of the gap.…

Spintronics, or spin electronics, involves the study of active control and manipulation of spin degrees of freedom in solid-state systems. This article reviews the current status of this subject, including both recent advances and well-established…

This article reviews the basic theoretical aspects of graphene, a one atom thick allotrope of carbon, with unusual two-dimensional Dirac-like electronic excitations. The Dirac electrons can be controlled by application of external electric and…

Topological insulators are electronic materials that have a bulk band gap like an ordinary insulator, but have protected conducting states on their edge or surface. The 2D topological insulator is a quantum spin Hall insulator, which is a close…

The outstanding electrical, mechanical and chemical properties of graphene make it attractive for applications in flexible electronics. However, efforts to make transparent conducting films from graphene have been hampered by the lack of efficient…

We have studied the electronic structure of the unfaulted U0 step on a Si(111) 77 surface with scanning tunneling spectroscopy. The experiments reveal electronic bands in the energy spectra of the atoms at the step. Several narrow unfilled bands are…