| A beetle-type scanning tunneling microscope (STM), optimized for fast scanning surface studies, was designed and built. Mechanical resonance characteristics for both the original and fast scanning beetles were predicted with a simple mass and spring model, and experimentally verified. Vibration studies of existing and future damping systems for our UHV system were conducted. These measurements provided conclusive evidence that the presence of low frequency resonances were the consequence of an intrinsic property of the STM and not due to the entire STM rattling on the supporting surface, as indicated in previous studies. Several simple experiments are presented for future investigations into this matter, so the exact origin of these resonances can be determined. The scanning performance of this novel STM was verified by obtaining atomically resolved images of graphite and Si(111)-(7x7) surfaces. Additionally, a new preparation chamber was designed, specifically for the deposition of materials for studies of dynamic surface. |
