Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy Line-Profiling of Irregular Dimers on the Monohydride Si(001) Surface: Tight-Binding Simulation

Abstract

This paper describes curious behaviors in noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) line-profiles simulated by the density-functional based tight-binding (DFTB) method. Although NC-AFM observes the surface corrugations in general, these line-profiles show atom-like peaks at vacancy sites. This is caused by a stronger interaction incident to the dangling bond. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2013.80]