Measuring the reactivity of a silicon-terminated probe

Published

September 30, 2016

Author(s)

Adam Sweetman, Julian Stirling, Philipp Rahe, Philip Moriarty

Abstract

It is generally accepted that the exposed surfaces of silicon crystals are highly reactive due to the dangling bonds which protrude into the vacuum. However, it is also well known that disordered nano-crystals can have radically different properties to the bulk crystal. In this study we probe the reactivity of silicon clusters at the end of a scanning probe tip by examining their interaction with closed shell fullerene molecules. Counter to intuitive expectations, many silicon clusters do not react strongly with the fullerene cage, and only specific highly orientated clusters have sufficient reactivity to break open the existing carbon-carbon bonds. We contrast this with measurements performed with metal terminated tips and passivated metal tips. We discuss these results both in terms of previously highlighted theoretical results and recent intramolecular imaging experiments on semiconductor surfaces, and highlight how the concept of reactivity of probe tips must necessarily consider both components of the reaction.

Citation

Physical Review B

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

Atomic Force Microscopy, Silicon, Reactivity

Citation

Sweetman, A. , Stirling, J. , Rahe, P. and Moriarty, P. (2016), Measuring the reactivity of a silicon-terminated probe, Physical Review B (Accessed February 20, 2026)