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American Physical Society, Physical Review Letters, 24(108), 2012

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.108.246102

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Improvement of scanning tunneling microscopy resolution with H-sensitized tips

Journal article published in 2012 by J. I. Martínez ORCID, E. Abad, C. González ORCID, F. Flores, J. Ortega
This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Recent scanning tunneling hydrogen microscopy (STHM) experiments on PTCDA (perylene-3,4,9,10- tetracarboxylic-3,4,9,10-dianhydride)/Au(111) have shown unprecedented intramolecular and intermolecular spatial resolution. The origin of this resolution is studied using an accurate STHM theoretical simulation technique that includes a detailed description of the electronic structure of both the tip and sample. Our results show that H2 molecules are dissociated on the Au tip; the adsorbed H atoms change the density of states at the Fermi level (EF) of the tip, increasing its p-orbital character and reducing the s-orbital contribution. Also, due to the interaction with the H-decorated tip, EF is shifted to the middle of the PTCDA lowest unoccupied molecular orbital peak, increasing dramatically the density of states of the sample at EF. These effects give rise to the enhanced STHM resolution