Flexure Structural Scanner of Tip Scan Type for High-speed Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

Abstract

Dynamic behaviors of atoms on a material surface are important processes for catalytic reactions and crystal growth. Visualizing their processes will contribute to understanding reaction mechanisms and the process of surface structural formation. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is a powerful tool to investigate the surface structure of solid materials and has been used to observe the atomic structures of various important materials such as metals and semiconductors. However, the scan speed of conventional scanning tunneling microscopes is too slow to capture dynamic processes of surface atoms in real time. In this study, we developed a new scanner for high-speed STM (HS-STM). This scanner is constructed from a flexure structure actuating in the x and y directions and a small piezoactuator actuating an STM tip in the z direction. To enhance the actuation bandwidth, the tip holder was minimized and the flexure was hardened. We successfully imaged atomic structures on both highly oriented pyrolytic graphite under ambient conditions and a Si(111) under ultrahigh vacuum at 1 frame s −1 using the developed HS-STM scanner.

Feature correlation method for image reconstruction evaluation in under-sampled scanning probe microscopy

“…[2][3][4][5] However, capturing a single surface image with SPM often requires several minutes to tens of minutes, posing a significant challenge in the field. 6) Addressing this issue, efforts to expedite SPM imaging have focused on two main strategies: hardware enhancements [7][8][9][10] and software improvements. Among software solutions, under-sampled SPM has emerged as a prominent method.…”

Time-reduction imaging method for scanning-probe microscopy using a compressed sensing algorithm based on sequential reconstruction method

“…improved the mechanical resonance frequency of STM and increased the speed of STM measurement by employing the actuator of high-speed atomic force microscopy (AFM) for bio samples. 13) Dri et al increased the scan speed by scanning at higher frequencies among nonresonant frequencies by investigating the mechanical resonance frequency response of an XYZ tube scanner. 14) On the other hand, Croft et al succeeded in reducing the distortion of a scan by taking it into account.…”