Applications

Several surfaces have been studied with the STM. The arrangement of individual atoms on the metal surfaces of gold, platinum, nickel, and copper have all been accurately documented. The absorption and diffusion of different species such as oxygen and the epitaxial growth of gold on gold, silver on gold, and nickel on gold also have been examined in detail.

The surfaces of silicon have been studied more extensively than those of any other material. The surfaces are prepared by being heated in vacuum to temperatures so high that the atoms there rearrange their positions in a process called surface reconstruction. The reconstruction of the silicon surface designated (111) has been studied in minute detail. Such a surface reconstructs into an intricate and complex pattern known as the Takayanagi 7 × 7 structure. The position, the chemical reactivity, and the electronic configuration of each atomic site on the 7 × 7 surface has been measured with the STM. The reconstruction of the silicon surface designated (100) is more simple. The surface atoms form pairs, or dimers, that fit into rows that extend across the entire silicon surface.

“Vacuum tunneling” of electrons from tip to sample can take place even though the environment in the region surrounding the tip is not a vacuum but is filled with molecules of gas or liquids. With a tip-sample spacing as small as five angstroms, there is little room for molecules—even though they may exist in the surrounding atmosphere. The STM can operate in ambient atmosphere as well as in high vacuum. Indeed, it has been operated in air, in water, in insulating fluids, and in the ionic solutions used in electrochemistry. It is much more convenient than ultrahigh-vacuum instruments. When a high-vacuum environment is employed, its purpose is not to improve the performance of the STM but rather to ensure the cleanliness of the sample surface.

The STM can be cooled to temperatures less than 4 K (−269 °C, or −452 °F)—the temperature of liquid helium. It can be heated above 973 K (700 °C, or 1,300 °F). The low temperature is used to investigate the properties of superconducting materials, while the high temperature is employed to study the rapid diffusion of atoms across the surface of metals and their corrosion.

The STM is used primarily for imaging, but there are many other modalities that have been explored. The strong electric field between tip and sample has been utilized to move atoms along the sample surface. It has been used to enhance the etching rates in various gases. In one instance, a voltage of four volts was applied; the field at the tip was strong enough to remove atoms from the tip and deposit them on a substrate. This procedure has been employed with a gold tip to fabricate small gold islands or clusters on the substrate with several hundred atoms of gold in each cluster. These nanostructures are used to pattern the surface on a scale that is unprecedented.