Abstract. Experimental results on the lateral manipulation of single atoms at semiconductor surfaces using non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) are presented. These experiments prove that deposited adsorbates on top of a surface, as well as intrinsic adatoms of semiconductor surfaces, are suitable for being manipulated using the short-range interaction force acting between the outermost atoms of a semiconductor tip and the atoms at the surface. The analysis of the data from some of the experiments presented here indicates a pulling process of the tip on the manipulated atoms. The atom-by-atom creation, at room temperature, of patterns composed by a few inherent atoms of a heterogeneous surface is also presented.

Print publication: Issue 3 (March 2005)
Received 4 October 2004, in final form 30 November 2004
Published 28 January 2005