title: Charge-State-Dependent Diffusion of Individual Gold Adatoms on Ionic Thin NaCl Films.
abstract: It is known that individual metal atoms on insulating ionic films can occur in several different (meta)stable charge states, which can be reversibly switched in a controlled fashion. Here we show that the diffusion of gold adatoms on NaCl thin films depends critically on their charge state. Surprisingly, the anionic species has a lower diffusion barrier than the neutral one. Furthermore, for the former we observe that the diffusion atop a bilayer of NaCl is strongly influenced by the interface between NaCl and the underlying copper substrate. This effect disappears for a trilayer of NaCl. These observations open the prospect of controlling the diffusion properties of individual metal atoms on thin insulating films.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jascha
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Repp
authors.affiliation: IBM Research-Zurich, 8803 Rüschlikon, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Wolfram
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Steurer
authors.affiliation: Surface Science Research Centre and Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Scivetti
authors.affiliation: Surface Science Research Centre and Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mats
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Persson
authors.affiliation: IBM Research-Zurich, 8803 Rüschlikon, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gross
authors.affiliation: IBM Research-Zurich, 8803 Rüschlikon, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Meyer