Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Its Derivatives

The most arresting development is the use of an STM tip, manipulated to move both laterally and vertically, to shepherd individual atoms across a crystal surface to generate features of predeterminate shapes an atom can be contacted, lifted, transported and redeposited under visual control. This was first demonstrated at 

IBM in California by Eigler and Schweizer (1990), who manipulated individual xenon atoms aeross a niekel (110) crystal surfaee. In the immediate aftermath of this achievement, many other variants of atom manipulation by STM have been published, and DiNardo surveys these. 

Such an extraordinary range of uses for the STM and its variants have been found that this remarkable instrument ean reasonably be plaeed side by side with the eleetron mieroprobe analyser as one of the key developments in modern eharacterisation. 

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