2010/07/09 by Weigang Wang, Wang, Weigang, M. R. Beasley +2
Chemistry · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Electrochemical Analysis and Applications #FOS: Physical sciences #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Molecular Junctions and Nanostructures #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1007.1512
14 pages, 7 figures
openalex publication_date 2010/07/09 · arxiv created 2011/03/22 · arxiv updated 2011/03/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A theoretical description of scanning tunneling potentoimetry (STP) measurement is presented to address the increasing need for a basis to interpret experiments on macrscopic samples. Based on a heuristic understanding of STP provided to facilitate theoretical understanding, the total tunneling current related to the density matrix of the sample is derived within the general framework of quantum transport. The measured potentiometric voltage is determined implicitly as the voltage necessary to null the tunneling current. Explicit expressions of measured voltages are presented under certain assumptions, and limiting cases are discussed to connect to previous results. The need to go forward and formulate the theory in terms of a local density matrix is also discussed.