An atomic seesaw switch formed by tilted asymmetric Sn-Ge dimers on a Ge (001) surface.
When tin (Sn) atoms are deposited on a clean germanium (Ge) (001) surface at room temperature, buckled dimers originating from the Sn atoms are formed at the Ge-dimer position. We identified the dimer as a heterogeneous Sn-Ge dimer by reversing its buckling orientation with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) at 80 kelvin. An atomic seesaw switch was formed for one-dimensional electronic conduction in the Ge dimer-row direction by using the STM to reversibly flip the buckling orientation of the Sn-Ge dimer and to set up standing-wave states.
Tomatsu
K
K
Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa-shi, Chiba 277-8581, Japan.
Nakatsuji
K
K
Iimori
T
T
Takagi
Y
Y
Kusuhara
H
H
Ishii
A
A
Komori
F
F