APPLICATION OF SURFACE FABRICATION TO STRAIN-MEASUREMENT IN NANOMETER-SCALE WITH THE SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE

In this paper we describe the application of surface fabrication to th e strain measurement in a nanometer scale with a scanning tunneling mi croscope (STM). In the electrical surface fabrication with the STM, he mispherical mounds whose radius and height were about 10 nm were creat ed by applying a voltage pulse higher than 2.45 V between a gold STM t ip and gold specimen. In the mechanical surface fabrication, indentati ons whose minimum depth was about 10 nm, were created by the contact o f a conductive diamond tip with the gold specimen. The lattice of moun ds or indentations was arranged in ten columns of ten rows at 45 nm pi tch in the region of 450 x 450 nm. Comparing the two STM images before and after making a 50-nm-deep indentation on the lattice of small ind entations, the displacement distribution was measured in the nanometer scale at each small indentation. Finally, strain distribution was cal culated from the displacement distribution by using triangular element s.