Nanoscale processes on insulating surfaces

Ionic crystals are among the simplest structures in nature. They can be easily cleaved in air and in vacuum, and the resulting surfaces are atomically flat on areas hundreds of nanometers wide. With the development of scanning probe microscopy, these surfaces have become an ideal "playground" to investigate several phenomena occurring on the nanometer scale. This book focuses on the fundamental studies of atomically resolved imaging, nanopatterning, metal deposition, molecular self-assembling and nanotribological processes occurring on ionic crystal surfaces. Here, a significant variety of structures are created by nanolithography, annealing and irradiation by electrons, ions or photons, and are used to confine metal particles and organic molecules or to improve our basic understanding of friction and wear on the atomic scale. Metal oxides with wide band gap are also discussed. Altogether, the results obtained so far will have an undoubted impact on the future development of nanoelectronics and nanomechanics.

Preface	p. vii
1 Crystal Structures of Insulating Surfaces	p. 1
1.1 Halide Surfaces	p. 1
1.1.1 Alkali halide surfaces	p. 1
1.1.2 Alkaline earth halide surfaces	p. 2
1.2 Oxide Surfaces	p. 2
1.2.1 True insulating oxide surfaces	p. 3
1.2.2 Mixed conducting oxide surfaces	p. 4
2 Preparation Techniques of Insulating Surfaces	p. 9
2.1 Ultra High Vacuum	p. 9
2.2 Preparation of Bulk Insulating Surfaces	p. 10
2.2.1 Halide surfaces	p. 10
2.2.2 Oxide surfaces	p. 11
2.2.3 Nanostructuring of insulating surfaces	p. 12
2.3 Deposition of Insulating Films, Metals and Organic Molecules	p. 13
2.3.1 Thin insulating films	p. 14
2.3.2 Metal adsorbates on insulators	p. 14
2.3.3 Organic molecules on insulators	p. 15
3 Scanning Probe Microscopy in Ultra High Vacuum	p. 17
3.1 Atomic Force Microscopy	p. 17
3.1.1 Relevant forces in AFM	p. 19
3.1.2 Contact AFM	p. 21
3.1.3 Non-contact AFM	p. 21
3.1.4 Kelvin probe force microscopy	p. 24
3.2 Scanning Tunneling Microscopy	p. 24
3.2.1 Scanning tunneling microscopy	p. 24
3.2.2 Scanning tunneling spectroscopy	p. 26
3.3 Atomistic Modeling of SPM	p. 26
4 Scanning Probe Microscopy on Bulk Insulating Surfaces	p. 29
4.1 Halide Surfaces	p. 29
4.1.1 Alkali halide surfaces	p. 29
4.1.2 Alkaline earth halide surfaces	p. 32
4.2 Oxide Surfaces	p. 34
4.2.1 True insulating oxide surfaces	p. 34
4.2.2 Mixed conducting oxide surfaces	p. 37
4.3 Modeling AFM on Bulk Insulating Surfaces	p. 42
4.3.1 Halide surfaces	p. 42
4.3.2 Oxide surfaces	p. 44
5 Scanning Probe Microscopy on Thin Insulating Films	p. 47
5.1 Halide Films on Metals	p. 47
5.1.1 Carpet-like growth	p. 47
5.1.2 Restructuring and patterning of vicinal surfaces	p. 51
5.1.3 Fractal growth at low temperatures	p. 53
5.2 Halide Films on Semiconductors	p. 55
5.3 Heteroepitaxial Growth of Alkali Halide Films	p. 58
5.4 Oxide Films	p. 59
5.5 Modeling AFM on Thin Insulating Films	p. 63
6 Interaction of Ions, Electrons and Photons with Halide Surfaces	p. 65
6.1 Ion Bombardment of Alkali Halides	p. 65
6.2 Electron and Photon Stimulated Desorption	p. 68
6.2.1 Electron stimulated desorption	p. 69
6.2.2 Photon stimulated desorption	p. 70
7 Surface Patterning with Electrons and Photons	p. 77
7.1 Surface Topography Modification by Electronic Excitations	p. 77
7.1.1 Layer-by-layer desorption	p. 77
7.1.2 Coexcitation with visible light	p. 81
7.2 Nanoscale Pits on Alkali Halide Surfaces	p. 83
7.2.1 Diffusion equation for F-centers	p. 85
8 Surface Patterning with Ions	p. 89
8.1 Ripple Formation by Ion Bombardment	p. 89
8.1.1 Linear continuum theory for ripple formation	p. 91
8.1.2 Beyond the continuum theory	p. 93
8.2 A Case Study: Ion Beam Modifications of KBr Surfaces	p. 94
9 Metal Deposition on Insulating Surfaces	p. 101
9.1 Metals on Halide Surfaces	p. 101
9.1.1 Metals on plain halide surfaces	p. 102
9.1.2 Metals on nanopatterned halide surfaces	p. 105
9.2 Metals on Oxide Surfaces	p. 107
9.2.1 Metals on true insulating oxide surfaces	p. 107
9.2.2 Metals on mixed conducting oxide surfaces	p. 109
9.3 Metals on Thin Insulating Films	p. 110
9.3.1 Metals on halide films	p. 111
9.3.2 Metals on oxide films	p. 111
9.4 Modeling AFM on Metal Clusters on Insulators	p. 113
10 Organic Molecules on Insulating Surfaces	p. 115
10.1 Chemical Structures of Organic Molecules	p. 115
10.1.1 Fullerene molecules	p. 115
10.1.2 Porphyrin molecules	p. 116
10.1.3 Phthalocyanine molecules	p. 116
10.1.4 Perylene molecules	p. 116
10.2 Organic Molecules on Halide Surfaces	p. 117
10.2.1 Self-assembly of fullerene molecules	p. 117
10.2.2 Nanospale pits as molecular traps	p. 121
10.2.3 Molecular nanowires	p. 123
10.3 Organic Molecules on Oxide Surfaces	p. 125
10.4 Organic Molecules on Thin Insulating Films	p. 127
10.4.1 Organic molecules on halide films	p. 127
10.4.2 Organic molecules on oxide films	p. 128
10.5 Modeling AFM on Organic Molecules on Insulators	p. 129
11 Scanning Probe Spectroscopy on Insulating Surfaces	p. 131
11.1 Force Spectroscopy on Insulating Surfaces	p. 131
11.1.1 Alkali halide surfaces	p. 131
11.1.2 Alkaline earth halide surfaces	p. 135
11.1.3 Oxide surfaces	p. 137
11.2 Tunneling Spectroscopy on Thin Insulating Films	p. 137
11.3 Tunneling Spectroscopy on Metal Clusters	p. 138
11.3.1 Alkali halide films	p. 138
11.3.2 Oxide films	p. 139
11.4 Tunneling Spectroscopy on Organic Molecules	p. 139
12 Nanotribology on Insulating Surfaces	p. 141
12.1 Friction Mechanisms at the Atomic Scale	p. 142
12.1.1 The Tomlinson model	p. 142
12.1.2 Superlubricity	p. 143
12.1.3 Velocity dependence of atomic friction	p. 144
12.2 Friction on Halide Surfaces	p. 144
12.2.1 Friction on bulk halide surfaces	p. 144
12.2.2 Friction on halide films	p. 146
12.3 Nanowear Processes on Insulating Surfaces	p. 147
12.3.1 Abrasion wear on alkali halide surfaces	p. 147
12.3.2 Nanoindentation processes	p. 149
12.4 Modeling Nanotribology on Insulating Surfaces	p. 152
13 Nanomanipulation on Insulating Surfaces	p. 155
13.1 Nanomanipulation Experiments on Insulating Surfaces	p. 155
13.1.1 Manipulation on halide surfaces	p. 156
13.1.2 Manipulation on oxide surfaces	p. 158
13.2 Modeling Nanomanipulation on Insulating Surfaces	p. 159
13.2.1 AFM imaging of surface diffusion	p. 159
13.2.2 Nanomanipulation of adatoms and vacancies	p. 160
Bibliography	p. 163
Index	p. 183

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