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Multiple vibrational modes have been observed for copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) adlayers on Ag(111) using ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS). Several important new experimental features are introduced in this work that significantly advance the state-of-the-art in UHV-TERS. These include (1) concurrent sub-nm molecular resolution STM imaging using Ag tips with laser illumination of the tip-sample junction, (2) laser focusing and Raman collection optics that are external to the UHV-STM that has two cryoshrouds for future low temperature experiments, and (3) all sample preparation steps are carried out in UHV to minimize contamination and maximize spatial resolution. Using this apparatus we have been able to demonstrate a TERS enhancement factor of 7.1 × 10(5). Further, density-functional theory calculations have been carried out that allow quantitative identification of eight different vibrational modes in the TER spectra. The combination of molecular-resolution UHV-STM imaging with the detailed chemical information content of UHV-TERS allows the interactions between large polyatomic molecular adsorbates and specific binding sites on solid surfaces to be probed with unprecedented spatial and spectroscopic resolution.

This review summarizes a variety of beam damage phenomena relating to oxides in (scanning) transmission electron microscopes, and underlines the shortcomings of currently popular mechanisms. These phenomena include mass loss, valence state reduction, phase decomposition, precipitation, gas bubble formation, phase transformation, amorphization and crystallization. Moreover, beam damage is also dependent on specimen thickness, specimen orientation, beam voltage, beam current density and beam size. This article incorporates all of these damage phenomena and experimental dependences into a general description, interpreted by a unified mechanism of damage by induced electric field. The induced electric field is produced by positive charges, which are generated from excitation and ionization. The distribution of the induced electric fields inside a specimen is beam-illumination- and specimen-shape- dependent, and associated with the experimental dependence of beam damage. Broadly speaking, the mechanism operates differently in two types of material. In type I, damage increases the resistivity of the irradiated materials, and is thus divergent, resulting in phase separation. In type II, damage reduces the resistivity of the irradiated materials, and is thus convergent, resulting in phase transformation. Damage by this mechanism is dependent on electron-beam current density. The two experimental thresholds are current density and irradiation time. The mechanism comes into effect when these thresholds are exceeded, below which the conventional mechanisms of knock-on and radiolysis still dominate.

Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) provides chemical information for adsorbates with nanoscale spatial resolution, single-molecule sensitivity, and, when combined with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), Ångstrom-scale topographic resolution. Performing TERS under ultrahigh-vacuum conditions allows pristine and atomically smooth surfaces to be maintained, while liquid He cooling minimizes surface diffusion of adsorbates across the solid surface, allowing direct STM imaging. Low-temperature TER (LT-TER) spectra differ from room-temperature TER (RT-TER), RT surface-enhanced Raman (SER), and LT-SER spectra because the vibrational lines are narrowed and shifted, revealing additional chemical information about adsorbate-substrate interactions. As an example, we present LT-TER spectra for the rhodamine 6G (R6G)/Ag(111) system that exhibit such unique spectral shifts. The high spectral resolution of LT-TERS provides intramolecular insight in that the shifted modes are associated with the ethylamine moiety of R6G. LT-TERS is a promising approach for unraveling the intricacies of adsorbate-substrate interactions that are inaccessible by other means.

Kondo resonances are a very precise measure of spin-polarized transport through magnetic impurities. However, the Kondo temperature, indicating the thermal range of stability of the magnetic properties, is very low. By contrast, we find for iron phthalocyanine a Kondo temperature in spectroscopic measurements which is well above room temperature. It is also shown that the signal of the resonance depends strongly on the adsorption site of the molecule on a gold surface. Experimental data are verified by extensive numerical simulations, which establish that the coupling between iron states and states of the substrate depends strongly on the adsorption configuration.