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Engineering atomic and molecular nanostructures at surfaces

Nature volume 437, pages 671–679 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

The fabrication methods of the microelectronics industry have been refined to produce ever smaller devices, but will soon reach their fundamental limits. A promising alternative route to even smaller functional systems with nanometre dimensions is the autonomous ordering and assembly of atoms and molecules on atomically well-defined surfaces. This approach combines ease of fabrication with exquisite control over the shape, composition and mesoscale organization of the surface structures formed. Once the mechanisms controlling the self-ordering phenomena are fully understood, the self-assembly and growth processes can be steered to create a wide range of surface nanostructures from metallic, semiconducting and molecular materials.

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Figure 1: Two approaches to control matter at the nanoscale.
Figure 2: Atomic-scale view of growth processes at surfaces.
Figure 3: Magnetism at the spatial limit.
Figure 4: Semiconductor quantum structures.
Figure 5: Steering self-assembly of supramolecular nanostructures using hydrogen-bonding.
Figure 6: Metallosupramolecular assembly of low-dimensional Fe-carboxylate coordination systems on a square Cu(100) substrate.

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Acknowledgements

K.K. thanks the many students, postdocs and scientific collaborators who have contributed to the exploration of the atomic world of surfaces and nanostructures. Special thanks go to N. Lin for his enthusiasm in advancing the concepts of supramolecular chemistry at surfaces.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Physique des Nanostructures, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, CH-1015, Switzerland

    Johannes V. Barth & Klaus Kern

  2. Departments of Chemistry and Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, V6T 1Z4, British Columbia, Canada

    Johannes V. Barth

  3. Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Heisenbergstrasse 1, Stuttgart, D-70569, Germany

    Giovanni Costantini & Klaus Kern

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Barth, J., Costantini, G. & Kern, K. Engineering atomic and molecular nanostructures at surfaces. Nature 437, 671–679 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature04166

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