Single molecule imaging and vibrational spectroscopy with a chemically modified tip of a scanning tunneling microscope

The tip of a scanning tunneling microscope can be chemically modified by transferring a single molecule from the surface. Such a molecule-terminated tip yields enhanced resolution in topographical imaging of substrate atoms and molecular orbitals of molecules adsorbed on the surface. In addition, vibrational modes are detected in single molecule inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy which are not observed with a bare tip. These new findings are revealed by transferring a carbon monoxide or an ethylene molecule to the tip and probing single carbon monoxide and oxygen molecules adsorbed on Ag(110) at 13 K.