Elsevier

Ultramicroscopy

Volumes 42–44, Part 2, July 1992, Pages 1574-1579
Ultramicroscopy

Thermofield tip formation in UHV/STM combined with field-emission microscope

https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3991(92)90486-4Get rights and content

Abstract

One of the essential STM experimental stages is tip formation and refinement. For this aim the UHV/STM (P ∼ 10-7- 10-8 Pa) combined with a field-emission microscope has been designed. Refinement and formation of the tungsten tip surface were made at strong electrical field (F ∼ 106-107 V/cm) and high temperature (T ∼ 1500–2500 K). The compact electron gun mounted not far from the tip microscanner was used for tip heating. The series of field-emission tungsten-tip- surface images and Fowler-Nordheim characteristics obtained at the different thermofield treatment stages are shown and discussed. The field-emission W-tip images and Fowler-Nordheim characteristics examination allowed us to estimate the changes of tip geometry and refinement level in the process of thermofield treatment.

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