Multi-probe scanning tunneling microscopy

Abstract

A multi-tip scanning tunneling microscope (STM) can be used as a very versatile tool for electrical transport measurements at the nanometer scale. The STM tips are employed as current sources, voltage pick-up probes, and field-gate electrodes. This tool is very useful not only for fundamental physics research, but also for testing electrical characteristics of nanometer-scale electronic devices. Several groups are developing different types of multi-tip STM's [1]-[7]. Some companies have begun to deliver products combining multi-probe scanning probe microscopes with conductive atomic force microscopes [8], but the apparatus and operating system are not yet fully developed and still have much room for evolution in many aspects. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.