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Scanning tunneling microscope
Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is a way to view atoms. It was developed in 1981. It was invented by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer at IBM Zürich. They won the Nobel Prize in Physics for inventing it in 1986.[1] For STM, good resolution is 0.1 nm lateral resolution (how accurately it can see features on the surface) and 0.01 nm depth resolution (how accurately it can see the height of bumps on the surface).[2] The STM can be used not only in a vacuum but also in air and various other liquids or gases, and at most common temperatures.[3]
The STM is based on quantum tunneling. When a metal tip is brought very near to a metal or semiconducting surface, a voltage between the two can allow electrons to flow through the vacuum between them. Changes in current as the probe goes over the surface is what makes the picture. STM can be a hard thing to do, as it needs very clean surfaces and sharp tips.
Procedure
First the tip is brought very close to the thing being looked at, about 4-7 angstroms. Then the tip is moved very carefully across the thing being tested. This change in current when it is moved can be measured (constant height mode). The height of the tip where it always has the same current can be measured, too (constant current mode).[3] Using a constant height mode is faster.
Instrumentation
The parts of an STM are: scanning tip, something that moves the tip, something that stops it from vibrating, and a computer.
Related pages
References
- ↑ G. Binnig, H. Rohrer “Scanning tunneling microscopy” IBM Journal of Research and Development 30,4 (1986) reprinted 44,½ Jan/Mar (2000)
- ↑ C. Bai Scanning tunneling microscopy and its applications Springer Verlag, 2nd edition, New York (1999)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 C. Julian Chen Introduction to Scanning Tunneling Micro scopy(1993)
Other websites
Media related to Scanning tunneling microscope at Wikimedia Commons
- Scanning Electron Microscope is filming a STM (mpeg movie 3MB)
- Zooming into the Nanoworld (Animation with measured STM images)
- SPM - Scanning Probe Microscopy Website
- STM Image Gallery at IBM Almaden Research Center
- STM Gallery at Vienna University of technology
- Build a simple STM with a cost of materials less than $100.00 excluding oscilloscope
- Nanotimes Simulation engine download page
- Structure and Dynamics of Organic Nanostructures discovered by STM
- Metal organic coordination networks of oligopyridines and Cu on graphite investigated by STM
- Surface Alloys discovered by STM
Literature
- Tersoff, J.: Hamann, D. R.: Theory of the scanning tunneling microscope, Physical Review B 31, 1985, p. 805 - 813.
- Bardeen, J.: Tunnelling from a many-particle point of view, Physical Review Letters 6 (2), 1961, p. 57-59.
- Chen, C. J.: Origin of Atomic Resolution on Metal Surfaces in Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Physical Review Letters 65 (4), 1990, p. 448-451
- G. Binnig, H. Rohrer, Ch. Gerber, and E. Weibel, Phys. Rev. Lett. 50, 120 - 123 (1983)
- G. Binnig, H. Rohrer, Ch. Gerber, and E. Weibel, Phys. Rev. Lett. 49, 57 - 61 (1982)
- G. Binnig, H. Rohrer, Ch. Gerber, and E. Weibel, Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 40, Issue 2, pp. 178-180 (1982)
- R. V. Lapshin, Feature-oriented scanning methodology for probe microscopy and nanotechnology, Nanotechnology, volume 15, issue 9, pages 1135-1151, 2004
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