M. Bohringer et al., CORRUGATION REVERSAL IN SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE IMAGES OF ORGANIC-MOLECULES, Physical review. B, Condensed matter, 57(7), 1998, pp. 4081-4087
Submonolayer coverages of perylene-tetracarboxylic-dianhydride on Ag(1
10) were investigated with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) at 295
and 50 K. The molecules form highly ordered rhombic islands which at 2
95 K coexist with molecules diffusing on the substrate terraces. At 50
K the molecular islands appear 1.4 Angstrom higher than the Ag substr
ate in STM images, independent of the tunneling voltages and currents.
At 295 K this apparent height is observed only at high tunneling resi
stances. Lowering of the resistance decreases the height difference un
til finally the contrast between islands and the surrounding substrate
is reversed. At the same time, vacancies within islands show no contr
ast reversal. We explain the contrast reversal by trapping of molecule
s below the tip apex. [S0163-1829(98)00707-3].