Foster J S, Frommer J E, Arnett P C
IBM Research Division, Almaden Research Center, San Jose, California 95120.
Nature. 1988 Jan 28;331(6154):324-6. doi: 10.1038/331324a0.
In a very short time the scanning tunnelling microscope has become an important tool in surface science, and physics in general. Its primary use has been to obtain atomic-resolution images of surfaces, but recently, efforts have been made to use it to manipulate materials as well as image them. One may now reasonably ask if it is possible to move and alter matter predictably on an atomic scale. Here we report the accomplishment of the smallest yet, purposeful, spatially localized changes in matter, effected on a graphite surface. We believe that the changes result from the pinning of individual organic molecules to the graphite. The reverse manipulation, the removal of pinned molecules, has also been demonstrated. Finally, we have evidence that we can remove a portion of a pinned molecule, effectively performing transformations on single molecules using the tunnelling microscope.
在很短的时间内，扫描隧道显微镜已成为表面科学乃至整个物理学领域的重要工具。它的主要用途是获取表面的原子分辨率图像，但最近，人们也在努力利用它来操纵材料并对其成像。现在人们可能会合理地问，是否有可能在原子尺度上可预测地移动和改变物质。在此，我们报告了在石墨表面实现的迄今最小的、有目的的、空间局部性的物质变化。我们认为这些变化是由于单个有机分子固定在石墨上所致。反向操作，即去除固定的分子，也已得到证实。最后，我们有证据表明，我们可以去除固定分子的一部分，从而利用隧道显微镜有效地对单个分子进行转化。
