Abstract
Publisher Summary This chapter discusses that in the early years the rate of success in the groups that pioneered the new era, with the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), was limited by the technical difficulties associated with the new instrument. It discusses that the STM is a viable instrument for studying the conducting surfaces with atomic resolution. Since then, the field has experienced a tremendous increase in popularity. The chapter also discusses STM instrumentation. It describes the fundamental application of the STM: imaging and spectroscopy in both ultra-high vacuum (UHV) and ambient environments. The most convenient STM mode is operation in air— that is, the air-STM is often used for inert samples. The most stringent STM mode is operation in ultrahigh vacuum— that is, the UHV-STM is required for accurate and reliable studies of clean surfaces. The design concepts of the two instruments are quite similar, but the construction and operation of the air-STM is simpler by far. Acoustic coupling through the air is always present in the air-STM; however, the air-STM, with its compact and rigid form, is less sensitive to mechanical vibrations. The chapter also presents theoretical analysis of the systems for feedback control and vibration isolation as applied to STM. It is possible to design the STM without this rigorous calculation of the behavior of the feedback and isolation systems, but the analysis allows improving the performance of the STM when it is constrained to operate under specific conditions. It discusses typical problems and difficulties that are encountered in operating an STM together with possible remedies and improvements.
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