UHV-STM manipulation of single flat gold nano-islands for constructing interconnection nanopads on MoS2

Abstract

We demonstrate manipulation of metallic islands containing nearly a million atoms with a precision of one lattice spacing on a MoS2 surface, one at a time. Optimizing the growth conditions yields triangular shape metallic nano-islands 40 nm in lateral size and 12 nm in height on the MoS2 surface. The manipulation of these nano-islands is done one at a time using the scanning tunneling microscope, and a fully planar 4 pad nanostructure is demonstrated, where one apex of each triangular nano-island is pointing towards a central working MoS2 area of 12 nm × 24 nm in which atomic cleanliness is preserved. The feedback loop conditions to achieve this manipulation are discussed. This fully planar 4 pads nano-structure is ready to be interconnected by a multi-tip system. © 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd.