First-principles simulations of STM images:: From tunneling to the contact regime -: art. no. 085405

The operation of the STM on metallic surfaces from the tunneling to the contact regime has been explored with a combination of first-principles total energy methods and a calculation of the electronic currents based on nonequilibrium Keldish-Green's function techniques. Our calculations for the behavior of the total energy, forces, atomic relaxations, and currents for an Al tip on an Al(111) surface as a function of the tip-sample distance indicate that atomic relaxations and saturation effects become relevant in a similar distance range where the onset of a short-range chemical interaction between the tip apex and the surface atoms is taking place. These two factors, that have an opposite influence in the current, lead to corrugations of the order of 0.2 Angstrom, similar to the ones found experimentally in other (111) metal surfaces, for the closer distances (around 4.25 Angstrom) where stable operation can be achieved.