| 摘要 |
<p>A method of finely machining solid surface and, particularly, a novel method and apparatus for machining the surfaces of solid elements on an atomic scale in order to prepare very fine elements and for recording data at ultra-high density. A probe (1) having a sharp end is disposed being opposed to the surface of a sample (4) that is to be machined, a voltage is applied between the probe and the sample to form an electric field large enough to field-vaporize atoms (5) constituting the sample or to field-vaporize atoms (6) constituting the probe. Atoms constituting the sample are field-vaporized and are split off the sample surface or atoms constituting the probe are field-vaporized and are adhered onto the sample surface, thereby to finely machine the sample surface on an atomic scale. Furthermore, a voltage is applied like pulses at any desired position on the sample surface to generate field-vaporization between the probe and the sample while observing the sample surface on an atomic scale based on a surface observation method using a scanning tunnel microscope, in order to remove atoms one by one from the sample surface by field-vaporization.</p> |
