Stochastic switching of subphthalocyanine arrays triggered by scanning tunneling microscopy

Single-molecular switching phenomena in monolayer arrays of subphthalocyanine adsorbed on Cu(1 0 0) surface were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) under ultrahigh vacuum. The molecules evaporated on the surface arranged in a square lattice taking the Cu(1 0 0)SubPc(5 × 5) epitaxy. During continuous STM imaging at fixed tunneling conditions the topography of the individual molecules spontaneously changed between the high and low states. This topographic change was attributed to orientational switching between the upward and downward adsorption of the axial Cl atom of the molecule on the Cu surface. Molecular energy calculations and statistical thermodynamic evaluation concluded that the tip-triggered disturbance in the close-packed molecular array induced the molecular rearrangement accompanied with the stochastic orientational switching.