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Journal of Electron Microscopy 48(1): 1-7 (1999)
© 1999 Oxford University Press

Detection of the flip-flop motion of buckled dimers on a Ge(001) surface by STM

Tomoshige Sato1,*, Masashi Iwatsuki1 and Hiroshi Tochihara2

1JEOL Ltd 3-1-2 Musashino, Akishima, Tokyo 196–8558
2Department of Molecular and Material Sciences, Kyushu University at Kasuga Kasuga 816–8580, Japan

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: tosato{at}jeol.co.jp

The dynamic behaviour of surface dimers on Ge(001) has been investigated using a variable-temperature (VT) STM. It is clarified that symmetric-appearing dimers, which are generally observed in terraces of Ge(001) at room temperature by STM, are inherently buckled and that the flip-flop motion of buckled dimers is the origin of their symmetric appearance. The evidence of the flip-flop motion was detected by monitoring tunnelling current at positions above selected atoms in symmetric-appearing dimers, as a function of time. It is found that event rate of the flip-flop motion taking place in symmetric-appearing dimers is lowered considerably with decreasing temperature. It is demonstrated that the time-dependent tunnelling-current measurement at positions above selected surface-atoms by using atom-resolved VT-STM provides fruitful information concerning dynamic processes of surface atoms.

Keywords     scanning tunnelling microscopy, variable temperature, time-dependent phenomenon, Ge(001), buckled dimer, flip-flop motion

Received      9 January 1998, accepted 25 August 1998


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