APPLICATION OF AN STM/SEM INSTRUMENT FOR THE STUDY OF MATERIALS - TIP EFFECTS AND DATA CORRELATION

We have used scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) to study the surface topography of several materials in the nanometre range. In order to solve some problems of STM, we have integrated it with a conventional scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The aim of this paper is to analyse critically this combination. We emphasize the importance of tip effects in STM, for which purpose we use the image of the tip obtained by SEM. Also, we correlate the images obtained by both techniques in order to gain insight into the operation of both microscopes. In summary, we find that this combination represents an important step in the study of the surface topography of materials of technological interest. Copyright © 1990 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.