Scanning tunneling microscopy of fullerenes on metal and semiconductor surfaces

The current state of the ultra-high vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) of fullerene molecules is reviewed with the use of the authors' work. We focus our work on absorption and reaction of the C$_{60}$ and C$_{70}$ fullerenes, separately or in mixture, with semiconductor [Si(111)-7$\times$7 and Si(100)-2$\times$1] and metal [Cu(111)-1$\times$1 and Ag(111)-1$\times$1] surfaces. By using the STM, the adsorption geometry and the corresponding reconstruction are directly observed on these surfaces, and the intramolecular structures are revealed in high resolution STM images which are analyzed theoretically within the local charge distribution model. Results on the ordered growth of fullerene films on metal and semiconductor surfaces are presented and discussed.