Towards Atom-by-Atom Fabrication: Mechanosynthetic donation and abstraction (opens in new tab)

Enabled by inverted-mode scanning tunneling microscopy (IM-STM) and the use of functionalized molecular tools, we demonstrate positionally-controlled mechanosynthetic addition (donation) of carbon and subtraction (abstraction) of silicon atoms on a model build site: atomically clean and crystalline Si(100). The resulting structures represent the first demonstrations of an emerging ability to manipulate radical chemistry with positional control o...