Resolution of the scanning tunnel microscope

Abstract

At a corrugated metal or semiconductor surface, incident waves are split into beams reflected by the surface and exponentially damped waves penetrating the vacuum region. A probing tip approaching this surface from the vacuum side collects these damped waves, resulting in a tunneling current flow between the surface and the tip. By relying on arguments like those used to derive resolution criteria for optical instruments, a similar formula can be found for free-electron-like metals. For a surface with a weak sinusoidal corrugation with amplitude h s 2 , the amplitude Δd 2 of the observed corrugation of the equicurrent surface decreases as Δ d h s = exp[−π 2( φ2m h 2 ) − 1 2 (d+r t a 2 ] , where φ= U− E F is the averaged lo (work function), U the potential, E F the Fermi energy, a the corrugation period, d the distance between the surface and tip. and r t the tip radius. The validity of this formula is confirmed by numerical computations of tunneling through a corrugated barrier.