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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 30: Metal substrates: Adsorption of organic / bio molecules IV
O 30.9: Talk
Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 12:30–12:45, SCH A118
Nanostructuring of an ultrathin insulating film of NaCl on Cu(111) — •Christian Bombis1, Johannes Mielke1, Michael Mannsberger1, Francisco Ample2, Christian Joachim2, and Leonhard Grill1 — 1Institut für Experimentalphysik, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, 14195 Berlin, Germany — 2CEMES-CNRS, 29 rue J. Marvig, PO Box 4347, 31055 Toulouse Cedex, France
By using the atomic scale scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) manipulation ability, the nano-mechanical properties and the nanostructuring of NaCl crystalline nanoplates adsorbed on Cu(111) were investigated. Thin films of NaCl as spacer layers are attracting increasing attention, because they retain many of the insulator characteristics while still allowing sufficient current flow to enable STM probing. The thus enabled electronic decoupling of organic molecules from an underlying metal substrate was recently demonstrated and is of particular interest in the emerging field of molecular electronics. Here, we present the nanostructuring of an insulating film of NaCl, which covers cutting of different atomic layers, breaking of nano-islands as well as island manipulation on the metallic substrate. The achieved manipulation abilities are highly relevant with respect to the controlled formation of desired planar molecular interconnects. To further illuminate our current understanding of the nano-mechanical behaviour of the ultrathin film of crystalline NaCl on Cu(111), molecular mechanics calculations will be presented.