Making Mn Substitutional Impurities in InAs using a Scanning Tunneling Microscope

We describe in detail an atom-by-atom exchange manipulation technique using a scanning tunneling microscope probe. As-deposited Mn adatoms (Mnad) are exchanged one-by-one with surface In atoms (Insu) to create a Mn surface-substitutional (MnIn) and an exchanged In adatom (Inad) by an electron tunneling induced reaction Mnad + Insu → MnIn + Inad on the InAs(110) surface. In combination with density-functional theory and high resolution scanning tunneling microscopy imaging, we have identified the reaction pathway for the Mn and In atom exchange.