Infinity STM/AFM

Closed Cycle He Cooled STM/AFM

Devise Specifications

Scienta Omicron ultra high vacuum Infinity STM set up

SPM Chamber

This chamber has a closed cycle He system that allows it to remain cold for months at a time. The average working temperature is around 11-13 K and has a base pressure ~1x10-11 mbar. The scanning probe chamber (SPM) is capable of several different spectroscopies, scanning tunneling microscopy, and is equipped with a q-plus AFM set up.

Prep Chamber

The prep chamber has several e-beam metal evaporators, an argon cation sputter gun, a sample heater, and a mass spec.

Acetylene on Ag(111) as featured in Scienta Omicrons Result of the Month 2024, image conditions 0.1 nA, 800 mV. Acetylene molecules (bright spots) on Ag(111) form a square unit cell before more tightly packing into a hexagonal structure that supports the formation of the bright dumbbell shaped intermediate structure.

Atomic resolution of Ag(111) with subsurface Ni atoms, image conditions 0.2 nA, 100 mV).  Ni atoms deposited at 380 K, when they then segregate into the subsurface of the Ag(111) host surface. The surface atoms of the Ag(111) lattice retain their structure, but the subsurface perturbation of the Ni atoms results in darker depressions and standing waves at the surface.

Atomic resolution of a screw disolaction in Ag(111), image conditions 0.5 nA, 150 mV.