Natterer, FabianPatthey, FrançoisBrune, Harald2012-08-152012-08-152012-08-15201210.1103/PhysRevLett.109.066101https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/84568WOS:000307283300009The low-temperature adsorption of isolated transition metal adatoms (Mn, Co, and Fe) onto hexagonal boron nitride monolayers on Rh(111) creates a bistable adsorption complex. The first state considerably weakens the hexagonal boron nitride- (h-BN-) substrate bond for 60 BN unit cells, leading to a highly symmetric ring in STM images, while the second state is imaged as a conventional adatom and leaves the BN-substrate interaction intact. We demonstrate reversible switching between the two states and, thus, controlled pinning and unpinning of the h-BN layer from the metal substrate. I(z) and d ln(l)/dz curves are used to reveal the BN deformation in the ring state.text::journal::journal article::research article