Ploughing on gold using a Scanning Tunneling Microscope

Purpose of the our experiments is to measure the nominal force on the sample induced by the tip as a function of voltage and tunneling current and use the imaging capabilities of the STM to determine if the sample materials surface can be deformed plastically in a controlled manner by the tip in our investigations we use the tip as a ploughing tool which can be moved in a line to create a furrow, or can be scanned in a plane to displace a pocket of material. This abstract describes how we measure the tunneling force, presents some of the data acquired to date, and shows evidence of plastic deformation caused by the tip.