The Tapping-Mode Manipulation of Nanoparticles Using the Afm Cantilevers

By means of an AFM we observed a Si(111) surface with nanoparticles in ambient and manipulations of nanoparticles in the tapping mode. A surface damage as a scratched trough simultaneously occurs at the Si(111) surface during manipulating a nanoparticle, but it disappears in the next scan. This implies that the scratched trough is a artifact due to the nanoparticle manipulation. This paper presents AFM images of the nanoparticle manipulation and virtual scratched trough, and gives a possible explanation to understand the presence and absence of the virtual scratched trough.