Final Report Summary - NANOMAN (Control, manipulation and manufacture on the 1-10 nanometre scale using localised forces and excitations)
The project achieved in building a number of new instruments for AFM which was used to manipulate large and small molecules as well as nanocrystals. Manipulation has been demonstrated in vacuum space at room temperature and liquid helium temperature. Another AFM system has been developed which operated in low temperature using cantilever force sensors and has been used to demonstrate molecular manipulation on dielectric surfaces. Moreover, a breakthrough was the use of cantilever based non-contact mode AFM to position single water molecules on an insulating surface of calcium fluoride (CaF2). Finally, a virtual AFM package has been developed which modelled the interactions between a scanning probe and an adsorbate considering the effects of feedback control to simulate images and estimate the forces which control manipulation.