Scanning tunneling microscopy bit making on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite: Initial results

A scanning tunneling microscope was used to modify the surface structure of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite in air. By superimposing 0.1-μs pulses on the substrate bias, we consistently manufactured hole-hill combinations (‘‘bits’’) of 2–3 nm. A 40-nm L-shaped structure was created. We describe the experiments and relevant results.