2015/04/30 by Norio Okabayashi, Alexander Gustafsson, Angelo Peronio +4 · 3 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.93.165415
published as Phys. Rev. B 93, 165415 (2016)
arxiv created 2016/03/08 · openalex publication_date 2016/04/13 · arxiv updated 2016/04/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Achieving a high intensity in inelastic scanning tunneling spectroscopy (IETS) is important for precise measurements. The intensity of the IETS signal can vary up to a factor three for various tips without an apparent reason accessible by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) alone. Here, we show that combining STM and IETS with atomic force microscopy enables carbon monoxide front atom identification, revealing that high IETS intensities for CO/Cu(111) are obtained for single atom tips, while the intensity drops sharply for multi-atom tips. Adsorbing the CO molecule on a Cu adatom [CO/Cu/Cu(111)] such that it is elevated over the substrate strongly diminishes the tip dependence of IETS intensity, showing that an elevated position channels most of the tunneling current through the CO molecule even for multi-atom tips, while a large fraction of the tunneling current bypasses the CO molecule in the case of CO/Cu(111).