Nano Hotdog

This nano hotdog is made of 20 atomic vacancies arranged in a 2×10 array. Due to the shape of empty electron orbitals along this structure, both ends have tails that results in the object looking like a hotdog.

Its size is 7 nm2 at the atomic scale. It was taken with a technique called scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Just like how a blind person reads Braille by scanning their fingers across a bumpy surface, the STM operates by scanning an atomically sharp needle over a bumpy atomic area. It records a current signal and assembles it into an image.

In my research, I use STM to fabricate atomic structures and study their electronic properties. Currently, I am studying the bound electronic states within this structure. To simply put, if an electron were to be put in this structure, we can observe the likelihood of where it can be found as a function of energy. This study is important because the electronics of the future will rely on atomic structures and understanding the electronic properties of atomic wires will be crucial to build this technology.