International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics

He has been working on the surface science and the electronic devices. As a researcher of HCRL, he achieved atomic manipulation at room temperature using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to write atomic words, 'Peace 91 HCRL', for praying peace against Gulf Crisis. This was the first experiment in the world of manipulating a single atom in the surface layer. He also succeeded in dynamic observation of Si crystal growth with atomic resolution using STM. For carrying out these experiments, he developed original STMs with his coworkers. In Hitachi, he also worked on development of electronic devices, such as DRAM and Logic Devices. He developed a multi-probe STM combined with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) for failure analysis of the devices. His instrument has enabled direct measurement of a single semiconductor transistor formed on a chip, which drastically shortens the Turn Around Time (TAT) of the device development.

After moving to RIKEN, he returned to a fundamental research field, and started to develop multi-probe atomic force microscope combined with SEM. By using the instruments, he succeeded in observing switching phenomenon of nano-ionics device developed with his colleagues. The device is named Atomic Switch. He also succeeded in forming basic logic circuits using Atomic Switch. These successful experimental results and good enough performance of the device has been reported by NATURE in 2005. Collaboration with an electrical company has started to make practical device, which is expected to be commercially available in five years. He has conducted the research group of the Atomic Switch since 2003, with a supervision of Prof. Aono.