Theoretical Study of Moiré Pattern in Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Images of Carbon Nanotubes on Metallic Substrate

Theoretical simulation of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) adsorbed on Al(100) surfaces was performed using the Tersoff--Hamann theory and the tight-binding model. A lattice mismatch of the SWNT and the surface is shown to affect the electronic states at the top of the small-radius SWNT and to form a moiré pattern on the STM image, which is in good agreement with the results of a recent experiment.