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High-speed scanning tunneling microscopes

1988; American Institute of Physics; Volume: 6; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1116/1.575401

1520-8559

S. Gregory, Charles T. Rogers,

Surface and Thin Film Phenomena

We are developing scanning tunnel microscopes (STM’s) with which we have attained near-video frame rates. Such rates are necessary for the study of many surface-dynamic phenomena. One microscope uses a thermally stable twelve-piezo-grid ‘‘walker’’ for coarse and fine positioning and scanning. A vertical ‘‘inchworm’’ is used for coarse positioning of the tip. As part of our study of STM design possibilities we have operated an instrument in which crossed graphite fibers form the junction. This instrument has unique properties which shed light on the nature of extremely small vacuum tunnel junctions.