A SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE WITH A WIDE SAMPLING RANGE

Construction of a simple scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is described. This STM is suitable for atmospheric, controlled atmosphere, and high vacuum (but not UHV) work. This STM is especially well suited for determining surface topography on the 0.1 nm scale when images must be obtained over a wide sampling region (mm). Interchangeable piezo heads allow the STM to be used either for atomic resolution or for large (800×800 nm) area scans. Atomic resolution pictures of the graphite surface demonstrate that this design is suitable for use with structures smaller than 0.1 nm. An image of a thin film of Au, deposited on pyrex, is also presented.