Publications Details
Recognizing Atoms in Atomically Engineered Nanostructures: An Interdisciplinary Approach
This report describes the results of a Sandia Laboratov Directed Research & Development project to develop a technique that can identifi atoms in atomically engineered nanostructures. The report provides a detailed description of the experimental measurement techniques and subsequent image analysis procedures used in the identification process, followed by examples of the technique's successful application to several atomic surface features. Use of this technique requires the experimental measurement of both constant-current topographic and multi-bias conductance data from an atomic surface with the scanning tunneling microscope. These measurements are rendered as a collection of topographic and single-bias conductance images of the surface. Image pixels are then grouped into classes by a computed grouping algorithm, according to the shared conductance characteristics exhibited at each pixel. The image pixels are then color-coded by class to produce a false-color image of the scanned surface that chemically distinguishes surface electronic features over the entire area of the measured atomic surface.