Vacancy formation on stepped Cu(100) accelerated with STM: Molecular dynamics and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations

Formation of vacancies on stepped Cu(100) surface during the usage of scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is investigated on the atomic scale by performing molecular dynamics and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. The atomic processes responsible for vacancy formation on both upper and lower terraces during the scanning are identified. We investigate the possibility of increasing of local intensity of vacancy formation with STM tip at different temperatures. The influence of trajectory and velocity of STM tip is also demonstrated. Finally, we suggest the effective method to accelerate formation of free vacancies on the stepped Cu(100) surface.