title: A density-functional theory study of tip electronic structures in scanning tunneling microscopy.
abstract: In this work, we report a detailed analysis of the atomic and electronic structures of transition metal scanning tunneling microscopy tips: Rh, Pd, W, Ir, and Pt pyramidal models, and transition metal (TM) atom tips supported on the W surface, by means of ab initio density-functional theory methods. The d electrons of the apex atoms of the TM tips (Rh, Pd, W, Ir, and Pt tetrahedral structures) show different behaviors near the Fermi level and, especially for the W tip, dz(2) states are shown to be predominant near the Fermi level. The electronic structures of larger pyramidal TM tip structures with a single apex atom are also reported. Their obtained density of states are thoroughly discussed in terms of the different d-electron occupations of the TM tips.
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75080, USA.
authors: Heesung
authors: H
authors: Choi
authors: Roberto C
authors: RC
authors: Longo
authors: Min
authors: M
authors: Huang
authors: John N
authors: JN
authors: Randall
authors: Robert M
authors: RM
authors: Wallace
authors: Kyeongjae
authors: K
authors: Cho