1 nm deep mechanical processing of muscovite mica by atomic force microscopy

Atomic-scale mechanical processing of layered materials such as muscovite mica was performed using an atomic force microscope (AFM). Processing began at a certain critical load above 130 nN, and the processing depth increased discretely with load. Fracture easily occurred at the two cleavage planes of SiO4–K and K–SiO4 interfaces. With a load slightly larger than the critical load, several repetitions of mechanical sliding of the tip generated a 1 nm deep groove which corresponds to the distance from the top surface of SiO4 to the top surface of the next SiO4 layer beneath it with the removal of residual potassium on the surface. For example, a groove with four steps of 1 nm depth was processed by step-by-step mechanical sliding.