Scanning tunnelling microscopic techniques for the generation of nm-scale patterns on HF-treated (100)Si thin films were presented. It was possible to extract Si atoms from 1 x 1 (100)Si surfaces, and thereby create Si vacancies at the surface. The emission mechanism was believed to involve the field-assisted evaporation, due to the close proximity of the surface and the microscope probe.

G.S.Shekhawat, R.P.Gupta, A.Agarwal, K.B.Garg, P.D.Vyas: Journal of Applied Physics, 1995, 78[1], 127-31