Quantum Chemical Studies of Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy

Download or read book Quantum Chemical Studies of Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy written by Jeffrey T. Frey and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The (100) face of silicon supports some of the most important aspects of modern chemistry, not the least of which is its role as the foundation on which semiconductor technologies are built. Current state-of-the-art fabrication processes have reached an impasse, however, in that they can no longer decrease the circuitry dimensions. At this scale, macroscopic electronic behavior yields to the quantum nature of the materials. Future efforts to shrink electronic devices will require precise control of molecules and the quantum mechanics of charge conduction through them. In this thesis we examine two surface science techniques that are often used in nanotechnology: scanning tunneling microscopy and scanning tunneling spectroscopy. A quantum theoretical treatment of each method is presented and simplifications are made that allow the theory to be applied to chemical systems of interest. Case studies are used for both analytical techniques to illustrate the parallels and departures that manifest themselves between calculation and experiment.