Nanometer scale structure fabrication with the scanning tunneling microscope

Nanometer scale structures have been produced on atomically flat surfaces of metallic glasses using the scanning tunneling microscope in the tunneling mode with enhanced local current densities and strong electric fields. Depending on the current and the electric field enhanced diffusion, local crystallization of the glassy state or Taylor cone formation of the locally molten surface can occur. These structures provide a potential means of studying the behavior of matter at nanometer dimensions.