2024/03/03 by Angela M. Coe, Guohong Li, Coe, Angela M. +3
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced MEMS and NEMS Technologies #FOS: Physical sciences #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Nanofabrication and Lithography Techniques
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2403.01530
openalex publication_date 2024/03/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
To meet changing research demands, new scanning tunneling microscope (STM) features must constantly evolve. We describe the design, development, and performance of a modular plugin STM which is compact and stable. The STM head is equipped with a quick-connect socket that is matched to a universal connector plug, enabling it to be transferred between systems. This head can be introduced into a vacuum system via a load-lock and transferred to various sites equipped with the connector plug, permitting multi site STM operation. Its design allows reliable operation in a variety of experimental conditions, including a broad temperature range, ultrahigh vacuum, high magnetic fields, and closed-cycle pulse-tube cooling. The compact size of the STM is achieved by a novel nested piezoelectric coarse walker design which allows for large orthogonal travel in the X, Y, and Z directions, ideal for a studying both bulk and thin film samples ranging in size from mm to micrometers. Its stability and noise tolerance is demonstrated by achieving atomic resolution in ambient conditions on a laboratory desktop with no vibrational or acoustic isolation.