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Imaging by Sliding Planes in Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

John D. Todd  and
John B. Pethica
John D. Todd
Affiliation:
Department of Metallurgy and Science of Materials, Oxford University, Parks Road, Oxford OXI 3PH, UK
John B. Pethica
Affiliation:
Department of Metallurgy and Science of Materials, Oxford University, Parks Road, Oxford OXI 3PH, UK
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Abstract

Scanning tunnelling microscope images of layered materials in a non-uhv environment exhibit various anomalous phenomena, including enhanced corrugation heights, periodicity over large areas and a marked absence of point defects. We have modified a precision indentation device to allow STM rastering of a tip across a surface, while simultaneously monitoring mechanical contact. Images we have obtained from this apparatus on an HOPG sample exhibit atomic scale resolution with contact areas much larger than a single atom. Contrast in the image results from periodic conductance fluctuations as the layers of the sample undergo shear in the region of the tip. We provide a model for this process, which explains a variety of curious, and otherwise unrelated phenomena occurring during STM imaging of these materials.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 159: Symposium C – Atomic Scale Structure of Interfaces , 1989 , 283
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

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References

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