Patterning a hydrogen-bonded molecular monolayer with a hand-controlled scanning probe microscope.

ABSTRACT: One of the paramount goals in nanotechnology is molecular-scale functional design, which includes arranging molecules into complex structures at will. The first steps towards this goal were made through the invention of the scanning probe microscope (SPM), which put single-atom and single-molecule manipulation into practice for the first time. Extending the controlled manipulation to larger molecules is expected to multiply the potential of engineered nanostructures. Here we report an enhancement of the SPM technique that makes the manipulation of large molecular adsorbates much more effective. By using a commercial motion tracking system, we couple the movements of an operator's hand to the sub-angstrom precise positioning of an SPM tip. Literally moving the tip by hand we write a nanosca

SUBMITTER: Green MF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4222388 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature