Highly reproducible low temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy with in situ prepared tips
arXiv:1209.0541 · doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2012.07.021
Abstract
An in situ tip preparation procedure compatible with ultra-low temperature and high magnetic field scanning tunneling microscopes is presented. This procedure does not require additional preparation techniques such as thermal annealing or ion milling. It relies on the local electric-field-induced deposition of material from the tip onto the studied surface. Subsequently, repeated indentations are performed onto the sputtered cluster to mechanically anneal the tip apex and thus to ensure the stability of the tip. The efficiency of this method is confirmed by comparing the topography and spectroscopy data acquired with either unprepared or in situ prepared tips on epitaxial graphene grown on Ru (0001). We demonstrate that the use of in situ prepared tips increases the stability of the scanning tunneling images and the reproducibility of the spectroscopic measurements.
arXiv comment9 Pages, 4 figures (including supp. material)
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- Fabrication of on-chip probes for double-tip scanning tunneling microscopy
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- Electronic properties of atomically coherent square PbSe nanocrystal superlattice resolved by STS
- Dynamic bonding influenced by the proximity of adatoms to one-atom high step edges