Direct measurement instrument for lattice spacing on regular crystalline surfaces using a scanning tunneling microscope and laser interferometry

An instrument for direct measurement of the lattice spacing on regular crystalline surfaces, which incorporates a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and a phase modulation homodyne interferometer (PMHI), was developed. Our aim was to verify the applicability of the length measurement method in which the lattice spacing on the crystalline surface obtained with the STM is used as a fine scale and the optical interference fringe, i.e., wavelength X, of the PMHI is used as a coarse scale. The instrument consists of a STM head with a YZ axes tip scanner, a precise X-axis sample stage with flexure springs, and the PMHI with a four-path differential configuration. Combining the movements of the YZ-axes tip scanner and the X-axis sample stage, the instrument can perform long atomic STM imaging of the crystalline surface along the X axis, which is also the fast scanning axis for eliminating thermal drift. The relative displacement of the X axis sample stage between optical interference dark fringes (=null points) of the PMHI, which is lambda/16 times the integer value in the design, can be measured with a resolution of 10 pm or less using the phase modulation technique. The lattice spacing on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) crystalline surface was measured by comparing the number of atoms in the atomic STM image of 100 nm length with the optical fringes of the PMHI. The mean and expanded uncertainty (k = 2) of the lattice spacing between a sites of the HOPG surface were 0.246 nm and 7 pm, respectively. The mean value was very close to that reported by Park and Quate [Sang-II Park and C. F. Quate, Appl. Phys. Lett. 48, 112 (1986)]. The experimental results also show the feasibility of realizing length measurement using the lattice spacing on the crystalline surface and the PMHI. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.