Cleaved thin film probes for scanning tunneling microscopy.
We introduce an alternative type of probe for scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) Instead of using a needle like tip made from a piece of metallic wire, a sharp edged cleaved insulating substrate, which is initially covered by a thin conductive film, is used. The sharp tip is formed at the intersection of the two cleaved sides. Using this approach a variety of materials for STM probes can be used, and functionalization of STM probes is possible. The working principle of different probes made of metallic (Pt, Co, and CoB) indium tin oxide, as well as Cu/Pt and Co/Pt multilayer films are demonstrated by STM imaging of clean Cu(001) and Cu(111) surfaces as well as the epitaxial Co clusters on Cu(111)
Nanotechnology