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Graphene oxide (GO) is one of chemically modified graphenes and has been extensively investigated worldwide. A monolayer sheet of GO can be chemically produced in solution and it has been expected to be adaptable to a wide variety of applications. Most of works have focused on fabrication and reduction processes of GO, while its intrinsic property has not been explored in detail. We have succeeded in fabricating large scale GO nanosheets reproducibly. In the present work, we observed GO nanosheets by conductive atomic force microscopy. The current image is useful to monitor the GO thickness as well as wrinkles and folds in the nanosheet with high contrast. In addition to the current images, local I-V characteristics of the GO sheet were measured with the conductive cantilever. Based on the applied electric filed dependence, the conduction normal to the GO sheet could be described in terms of Poole Frenkel emission mechanism and the relative permittivity of GO is evaluated to be 4.8., Comment: 4 pages

Graphene oxide (GO) is one of chemically modified graphenes and has been extensively studied worldwide. A monolayer sheet of GO which is chemically produced in solution can be deposited on various substrates. We have proved that use of graphite powder with a large grain size enables preparation of a single layer GO film that is larger than 100 micrometers easily and reproducibly. If it is possible to reduce the GO film completely, one can obtain graphene without mechanical exfoliation. However, the reduction methods employed so far have been insufficient to remove oxygen or to restore the long range order in graphene lattice. In the present work we annealed the GO sheet which was placed on Pt(111) in ultrahigh vacuum. The STM observation of the annealed specimen reveals that a honeycomb lattice appears together with moire structures of long range ordering. The XPS result indicated complete removal of oxygen from the GO sheet. These results would open a new way to synthesize a high quality graphene film, which replaces the conventional CVD method., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures

Single layer graphene islands with a typical diameter of several nanometers were grown on a Pt (111) substrate. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) analysis showed most of islands are hexagonally shaped and the zigzag-type edge predominates over the armchair-type edge. The apparent height at the atoms on the zigzag edge is enhanced with respect to the inside atoms for a small sample bias voltage, while such an enhancement was not observed at the atoms on the armchair edge. This result provides an experimental evidence of spatially (at the zigzag edge) and energetically (at the Fermi level) localized edge state in the nanographene islands, which were prepared chemically on Pt (111)., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 1 table

The spatial distribution and site- distribution of metal induced gap states (MIGS) are studied by thickness dependent near edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) and comparing the cation and anion edge NEXAFS. The thickness dependent NEXAFS shows that the decay length of MIGS depends on rather an alkali halide than a metal, and it is larger for alkali halides with smaller band gap energy. By comparing the Cl edge and K edge NEXAFS for KCl/Cu(001), MIGS are found to be states localizing at anion sites., Comment: 4 pages, to be published in Phys. Rev. B

The conductivity of organic semiconductors is measured {\it in-situ} and continuously with a bottom contact configuration, as a function of film thickness at various gate voltages. The depletion layer thickness can be directly determined as a shift of the threshold thickness at which electric current began to flow. The {\it in-situ} and continuous measurement can also determine qualitatively the accumulation layer thickness together with the distribution function of injected carriers. The accumulation layer thickness is a few mono layers, and it does not depend on gate voltages, rather depends on the chemical species., Comment: 4 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. B

We have shown, both experimentally and theoretically, that the metal-induced gap states (MIGS) can exist in epitaxially grown organic insulator/metal interfaces. The experiment is done for alkane/Cu(001) with an element-selective near edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS), which exhibits a pre-peak indicative of MIGS. An {\it ab initio} electronic structure calculation supports the existence of the MIGS. When the Cu substrate is replaced with Ni, an interface magnetism (spin-polarized organic crystal at the interface) is predicted to be possible with a carrier doping., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures

We have studied atomic structures of a-sexithienyl (6T) films grown on Cu(110) by near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS). A one-dimensional (1D) ordered structure of 6T with its molecular long axis parallel to the Cu[001] direction could be fabricated by deposition at 300 K and subsequent annealing at 360 K. Polarization and azimuth-dependent NEXAFS revealed the formation process of the 1D structure and showed the molecular orientation in the in-plane direction directly. We propose here a method to obtain the orientation distribution function of molecules using NEXAFS., Comment: 4 figures, to be published in Appl. Phys. Lett

A recent report [Kiguchi {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. B {\bf 68}, 115402 (2003)] that the (111) surface of 5 MgO layers grown epitaxially on Ag(111) becomes metallic to reduce the electric dipole moment raises a question of what will happen when we have fewer MgO layers. Here we have revealed, first experimentally with electron energy-loss spectroscopy, that MgO(111) remains metallic even when one-layer thick, and theoretically with the density functional theory that the metallization should depend on the nature of the substrate. We further show, with a spin-density functional calculation, that a ferromagnetic instability may be expected for thicker films., Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures

We present a simple but powerful method to determine the thicknesses of the accumulation and depletion layers and the distribution curve of injected carriers in organic field effect transistors. The conductivity of organic semiconductors in thin film transistors was measured in-situ and continuously with a bottom contact configuration, as a function of film thickness at various gate voltages. Using this method, the thicknesses of the accumulation and depletion layers of pentacene were determined to be 0.9 nm (VG=-15 V) and 5 nm (VG=15 V)., Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, Jap. J. Appl. Phys. in press

Atomic and electronic structures of a polar surface of MgO formed on Ag(111) was investigated by using reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), Auger electron spectroscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), and ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS). A rather flat unreconstructed polar MgO(111) 1$\times$1 surface could be grown by alternate adsorption of Mg and O$_{2}$ on Ag(111). The stability of the MgO(111) surface was discussed in terms of interaction between Ag and Mg atoms at the interface, and charge state of the surface atoms. EELS of this surface did not show a band gap region, and finite density of states appeared at the Fermi level in UPS. These results suggest that a polar MgO(111) surface was not an insulating surface but a semiconducting or metallic surface., Comment: 6 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. B

In order to search for states specific to insulator/metal interfaces, we have studied epitaxially grown interfaces with element-selective near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS). An extra peak is observed below the bulk edge onset for LiCl films on Cu and Ag substrates. The nature of chemical bonds as probed by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy remains unchanged, so we regard this as evidence for metal-induced gap states(MIGS) formed by the proximity to a metal, rather than local bonds at the interface. The dependence on the film thickness shows that the MIGS are as thin as one monolayer. An ab initio electronic structure calculation supports the existence of the MIGS that are strongly localized at the interface., Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. Lett