MANIPULATION OF GRAPHITIC SHEETS USING A TUNNELING MICROSCOPE

Folding and unfolding of atomic layers has been performed at step edge s of graphite using a scanning tunneling microscope. The technique con sists of modulating the distance or bias voltage between the microscop e tip and the sample when scanning selected areas. Calculation of the energies involved in the manipulations shows that tip-sample vibration can account for tearing and folding of graphitic layers. (C) 1998 Ame rican Institute of Physics.