title: Nanoscale strain engineering on the surface of a bulk TiO2 crystal.
abstract: Arrays of highly strained 5-25 nm-wide regions have been prepared on rutile TiO2(110) surface through a low energy Ar ion bombardment technique. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and an innovative STM tip-triggered nanoexplosion approach we show experimentally that the protrusions arise from subsurface Ar-filled pockets. Continuum mechanics modeling gives good estimates of the corresponding elastic deformation. Surface strain values of up to 4% have been deduced.
authors.affiliation: Laboratories for Light-Surface Interactions, Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics and ‡Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University , New York, New York 10027, United States.
authors.forename: Denis V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Potapenko
authors.forename: Zhisheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jeffery W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kysar
authors.forename: Richard M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Osgood
keywords: STM; TiO2; elastic deformation; ion implantation; strain