High-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy for molecules

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) can detect individual molecular configuration with its high spatial resolution ability, but some intrinsical and extrinsic factors result in the complexities of STM imaging of single molecules. By combining STM experimental work and theoretical simulation with the local density approximation based on Bardeen perturbation method, we have explored the atomic-scale configuration of the following molecular systems: C60 molecules adsorbed on Si(1 1 1)-(7×7); alkanethiol self-assembly monolayers on Au(1 1 1); C60 molecule imaged by STM tip adsorbed with another C60 molecule; O2 molecule adsorbed on Ag(1 1 0) and CO molecule adsorbed on Cu(1 1 1) imaged by CO chemically modified STM tip. Some related problems including: molecule–substrate interactions, STM imaging mechanism, chemically modified STM tip, etc., are discussed.