Vibrational-Energy Redistribution in Single-Atom Manipulation by Scanning Tunneling Microscope

A pairwise phenomenon is observed when we attempt to extract a single H atom from a monohydride Si(100)-2×1:H surface. This is attributed to the final vibrational excitation induced by the tunneling electrons and the desorption of two H atoms on one Si dimer simultaneously as an H 2 molecule. The pair effect is thought to be direct evidence of vibrational-energy transfer on the surface.