Abstract
This paper describes a new highly stable scanning-tunneling-microscope (STM) system and its application to nanofabrication. To move coarsely a STM tip, stacked piezoelectric elements are jointed crosswise using a monolithic Macor frame. This structure has high stiffness, and maintains stability under thermal effects and mechanical disturbances. Atomic corrugations of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) and gold atoms of gold thin films are observed by our S T M. Nanometer-scale surface fabrications and modifications in HOPG and gold thin film surfaces are demonstrated with our STM. The small convexs are made in HOPG and gold thin film surfaces by applying sub-millisecond square voltage pulses during the STM control. The width of the convex in the HOPG surface is about 1.3 nm, and the height is about 5 nm. The width of the convex in the gold film surface is about 6.3 nm, and the height is about 7.4 nm.
