Nanoscale guiding and shaping of indium droplets

We present time-resolved microscopy of motion and shape transformation of liquid indium (In) sessile droplets on InAs(001) surface. For temperatures up to 800 K, the droplets spontaneously move across the crystal undergoing stick-slip motion that is strongly affected by atomic steps and coalescence events. Above a critical temperature of around 800 K, the droplets stop moving and further increase in temperature causes them to change shape progressively from spherical to rectangular. The process of shape transformation is coherent, reversible and associated with temperature dependent wetting of the surface as well as crystalline anisotropy dependent arsenic solvation and evaporation rates. The etched rectangular substrate depressions formed under the droplets, giving them a rectangular shape, reveal unusual rheology with deeper regions at the corners. Our high spatial resolution measurements link the macroscopic behavior of the metallic droplets with the microscopic topography features and can be used for the metallic liquid droplet nano-manipulation. Published by AIP Publishing.