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SNOM/STM using a tetrahedral tip and a sensitive current‐to‐voltage converter
Author(s) -
Heimel J.,
Fischer U. C.,
Fuchs H.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2818.2001.00861.x
Subject(s) - near field scanning optical microscope , scanning tunneling microscope , materials science , voltage , optics , optical microscope , microscope , near and far field , transmission (telecommunications) , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , physics , computer science , telecommunications , scanning electron microscope , quantum mechanics
Scanning near‐field optical microscopes (SNOM) using the tetrahedral‐tip (T‐tip) with scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) distance control have been realized in transmission and reflection mode. Both set‐ups used ordinary STM current‐to‐voltage converters allowing measurement of metallic samples. In the transmission mode, a resolution of 10 nm to 1 nm with regard to material contrast can be achieved on binary metal samples. Because of the great near‐field optical potential of the T‐tip with respect to the optical resolution, it is a challenging task to find out whether these results can be transferred to non‐metallic sample systems as well. This paper reports on a newly designed SNOM/STM transmission mode set‐up using the tetrahedral‐tip. It implements a sensitive current‐to‐voltage converter to widen the field of measurable sample systems. Beyond this, mechanical and optical measuring conditions are substantially improved compared to previous set‐ups. The new set‐up provides a basis for the routine investigation of metal nanostructures and adsorbed organic monolayers at resolutions in the 10 nm range.