A small-size scanning tunneling microscope

A miniature scanning tunneling microscope is described; the microscope operates in air at normal conditions. The separation of the scanning unit from the rest of the microscope in the course of the measurements and the use of a hemispherical scanner allow the omission of the outer vibration isolation. The scanning unit is 18 mm in diameter and 27 mm long, and the natural resonance frequency of the scanner exceeds 100 kHz. The maximal surface area under study is 1 x 1 mu m, and the maximal height of a recorded surface profile is +/-0.3 mu m. The symmetry of the design and the small size of the scanning unit limit the thermal drift to 50 Angstrom/degrees C in the scanning plane and to 100 Angstrom/degrees C in the normal direction.