Cryogenic scanning tunneling microscopy was employed in combination with density-functional theory calculations to explore quantum dots made of In adatoms on the InAs(110) surface. Each adatom adsorbs at a surface site coordinated by one cation and two anions, and transfers one electron to the substrate, creating an attractive quantum well for electrons in surface states. We used the scanning-probe tip to assemble the positively charged adatoms into precisely defined quantum dots exhibiting a bound state roughly 0.1 eV below the Fermi level at an intrinsic linewidth of only ~4 meV, as revealed by scanning tunneling spectroscopy. For quantum-dot dimers, we observed the emergence of a bonding and an antibonding state with even and odd wave-function character, respectively, demonstrating the capability to engineer quasi-molecular electronic states. InAs(110) constitutes a promising platform in this respect because highly perfect surfaces can be readily prepared by cleavage and charged adatoms can be generated in-situ by the scanning-probe tip.
@article{arxiv.2311.11848,
title = {Quantum dots on the InAs(110) cleavage surface created by atom manipulation},
author = {Van Dong Pham and Yi Pan and Steven C. Erwin and Stefan Fölsch},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2311.11848},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
13 pages of referenced main text including 5 embedded figures plus legends; 4 pages of Supplementary Material including 3 figures plus legends