The linear electron resonator is constructed on a Ag(111) surface at 6 K substrate temperature [1]. The silver cluster at the middle (at the initial part of the movie) is produced by gently crashing the STM-tip into the substrate [2]. The cluster is then broken into smaller clusters using the STM-tip. The individual silver atoms are extracted from the cluster on an atom-by-atom basis [3]. These extracted atoms are repositioned by using the STM lateral manipulation procedure [4,5]. The atoms are aligned along [110] surface directions. The distance between the two nearest silver atoms is 1.732 nm (6 atom distances apart). This electron resonator is 25 nm long, 12 nm wide, and consists of 30 silver atoms.

[STM imaging parameters: 39 mV, 1.1 nA] (Courtesy: Saw-Wai Hla)

[1]. S.-W. Hla, K.-F. Braun, B. Wassermann, and K.-H. Rieder, “Controlled low-temperature molecular manipulation of sexiphenyl molecules on Ag(111) using scanning tunneling microscopy”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93 (2004), 208302.

[2]. S.-W. Hla, K.-F. Braun, V. Iancu, and A. Deshpande, “Single atom extraction by scanning tunneling microscope tip-crash and nanoscale surface engineering”, Nano Lett. 4 (2004) 1997-2001.

[3]. A. Deshpande, H. Yildirim, A. Kara,D. P. Acharya, J. Vaughn, T. S. Rahman, and S.-W. Hla, , "Atom-by-atom extraction by controlling a scanning tunneling microscope tip-cluster interaction ", Phys. Rev. Lett. (2006) in press.

[4]. S.-W. Hla, K.-F. Braun, and K.-H. Rieder, “Single-atom manipulation mechanisms during a quantum corral construction”,  Phys. Rev. B 67 (2003) 201402(R).

[5]. S.-W. Hla, and K.-H. Rieder, “STM Control of Chmeical Reactions: Single Molecule Synthesis”, Ann. Rev. Phys. Chem. 54 (2003) 307-330.