Growth of High Aspect Ratio Nanometer-Scale Magnets with Chemical Vapor Deposition and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

A combination of chemical vapor deposition and scanning tunneling microscopy techniques have been used to produce nanometer-scale, iron-containing deposits with high aspect ratios from an iron pentacarbonyl precursor both on a substrate and on the tunneling tip itself. The structure and composition of the resulting nanodeposits were determined by transmission electron microscopy and high spatial resolution Auger electron spectroscopy. Either polycrystalline, relatively pure, body-centered-cubic iron or disordered carbon-rich material can be deposited, depending on the bias conditions of the tip sample junction and the precursor pressure. Two mechanisms of decomposition are inferred from the growth phenomenology.