Abstract
At the moment, tailoring the structure of nano-scale materials seems to be the most promising strategy finding materials possessing novel properties and applications.
In this thesis the focus is on modified Ge-surfaces. By depositing a small amount - up to few monolayers - of material on a clean germanium substrate, the surface exhibits physical properties different from both the clean substrate and the deposited material in its pure form.
STM was chosen as the key method in this study. TR‐STM was introduced as well, and it was shown how this method could improve the temporal resolution of STM, up to seven orders of magnitude.
Using TR-STM a complex dynamic feature on Pt-modified Ge(001) surfaces was studied. This atomic scale variant of a pinball machine acts like a nano‐mechanical device. It exhibits a variety of dynamic modes, exclusively excited by an external electrical signal.
In this thesis the focus is on modified Ge-surfaces. By depositing a small amount - up to few monolayers - of material on a clean germanium substrate, the surface exhibits physical properties different from both the clean substrate and the deposited material in its pure form.
STM was chosen as the key method in this study. TR‐STM was introduced as well, and it was shown how this method could improve the temporal resolution of STM, up to seven orders of magnitude.
Using TR-STM a complex dynamic feature on Pt-modified Ge(001) surfaces was studied. This atomic scale variant of a pinball machine acts like a nano‐mechanical device. It exhibits a variety of dynamic modes, exclusively excited by an external electrical signal.
| Original language | English |
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| Qualification | Doctor of Philosophy |
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| Award date | 27 Aug 2010 |
| Place of Publication | Enschede, the Netherlands |
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| Print ISBNs | 978-90-365-3068-2 |
| Publication status | Published - 27 Aug 2010 |