Scanning tunneling and scanning electron microscopy on high-Tc superconductors

Abstract

We used scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) at room temperature to investigate the surface morphology of high-Tc superconductors of the composition EuBa2Cu3O7−x from the micrometer down to the nanometer scale. STM images of uncoated surfaces show large topographical features, which can be compared to structures also visible in SEM, as well as smaller structural details exceeding the resolution of the SEM on this sample.