Image of the Month

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Image of the Month
Posted Date: October 1, 2008
iotm-october-2008

Microscope:
Zeiss Supra-VP field-emission scanning electron microscope

Controls:
RHK Technology SPM 1000 Control System with XPMPro Software

Description:
Sample: MOCVD-grown GaN nanowires and structures on GaN film, sapphire substrate. Images: “Topographic”Secondary electron (SEM) image acquired with in-lens detector, and cathodoluminescence (CL) image acquired using a Hammamatsu photomultiplier tube (quantum efficiency 3 to 30% between 300 and 600 nm) in pulse-counting mode. 1 ms/pixel with CL count rates up to 1.8 MHz. image size set by SEM, 110 mm / 7500 = 14 um

Reference:
Frank Ogletree, Shaul Aloni and Tev Kuykendall Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

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Image of the Month
Posted Date: August 1, 2008
institution

Microscope:
Home Built Low Temperature STM (10K)

Controls:
SPM 1000 Control System with the IVP 300

Description:
The images show a monolayer silica film with palladium atoms (the bright spots) sitting in the holes of the film.

Reference: ChemPhysChem 2008, 9, 1367 – 1370
Stefan Ulrich, Niklas Nilius, Hans-Joachim Freund, Umberto Martinez, Livia Giordano, and Gianfranco Pacchioni – Fritz-Haber-Institut der MPG Berlin and Universit di Milano-Bicocca

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Image of the Month
Posted Date: July 1, 2008
institution

Microscope:
RHK UHV 7500

Controls:
SPM 1000 Control System

Description :
Large regularly shaped islands on air-cleaved mica surfaces after degassing in UHV at 473 K for 14 h recorded in the constant detuning mode. NC-AFM images recorded in the constant detuning mode. The profiles shown below the images are cross-sections taken along the indicated lines. (a) Island of 1.7 nm height with regular shape. Image taken at a detuning of -7.3 Hz and a bias voltage of 0 V. (b) Island of 5 nm height. The extended bright lobes in the centre of this structure are a scanning artefact. Image taken at a detuning of -4.0 Hz and a bias voltage of -1.3 V. (c) Zoom into the structure marked by the square in frame (b) revealing three terraces. Image taken at a detuning of -22.1 Hz and a bias voltage of 0 V.

Courtesy of:
F. Ostendorf, C. Schmitz, S. Hirth, A. Kuhnle, J. J. Kolodziej, and M. Reichling

Universitat Osnabruck, Research Centre for Nanometer-Scale Science and Advanced Materials (NANOSAM), and Jagiellonian University

Reference: Nanotechnology 19 (2008) 305705 (6pp)

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Image of the Month
Posted Date: May 1, 2008
iotm-may-2008

Microscope:
RHK UHV 325

Controls:
SPM 1000 and PLLPro SPM Control Systems

Description :
True constant height image with current and ΔF(Hz) acquisition amplitude of oscillation, 3Å peak to peak.

Courtesy of:
Sergiy Pryadkin of RHK Technology

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Image of the Month
Posted Date: April 1, 2008
institution

Microscope:
Unisoku USM-1300

Controls:
SPM 1000 Control System

Description:
Empty stm state image of Si(111)- v3 x v3 Ag surface taken at 5 K.

Imaging Conditions:
-1.5V, 200 pA

Courtesy of:
M. Ono, Y. Nishigata,T. Nishio T. Eguchi, Y. Hasegawa
The University of Tokyo

PRL 96, 016801 (2006)

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Image of the Month
Posted Date: March 1, 2008
iotm-march-2008

Microscope:
Homebuilt STM

Controls:
SPM 1000 Control System featuring XPMProTM

Description :
Self-assembled monolayer of 1,3,5-benzenetribenzoic acid. The STM image was obtained in-situ at the liquid-graphite interface with nonanoic acid as solvent. Intermolecular hydrogen bonds facilitate the formation of a nano-porous supramolecular network, which can be utilized for the lateral ordering of nanoscale objects. The lattice parameter amounts to 3.2 nm and the cavity diameter is 2.8 nm.

(further reading: J. Phys. Chem B 110, 10829-10836 (2006))

Courtesy of:
Dr. Lorenz Kampschulte and Dr. Markus Lackinger, Department for Earth and Environmental Science, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

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Image of the Month
Posted Date: February 1, 2008
institution

Microscope:
PicoSPM

Controls:
SPM 1000 Control System featuring XPMProTM

Description :
Imaging conditions: Oxide-sharpened Si3N4 probes (kavg = 0.5 N/m). Image acquired in ethanol. Applied force for nanografting: 4.8 nN. Image size: 470 x 470 nm2

Topograph of an octadecanethiol self-assembled monolayer on Au (111) after writing patterns of 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid via nanografting. Patterns are generated when the AFM tip displaces the matrix molecules under high force. New alkanethiol molecules from solution assemble immediately onto the shaved areas of the surface, following the track of the tip. The five interconnected rings have a line width of 10 nm. The dark color of the patterns indicates areas of the shorter alkane chain of 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid compared to the surrounding octadecanethiol monolayer.

Courtesy of:
Johnpeter Ngunjiri and Jayne Garno Chemistry Department Louisiana State University

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Image of the Month
Posted Date: January 1, 2008
institution

Microscope:
RHK UHV300 STM

Controls:
RHK Technology SPM 1000 featuring XPMProTM

Description:
Imaging condition: PtIr tip, bias voltage 0.3 V, tunneling current 1 nA, 300 K Image sizes: 125×125 nm2, 84×84 nm2 Image description: The sulfite (SO3) and sulfate (SO4) intermediates on
Ag(111) after reacting sulfur dioxide with the Ag(111)-p(4×4)-O surface oxide at 300 K. Surface sulfite orders as the (2√3×2√3)R30° hexagonal structures, and surface sulfate forms the stripe structures. The topographic nanorestructuring of the surface in the reaction shows unambiguously the mass transport and the redistribution of the silver adatoms in the adsorbate layer. The structures of sulfite and sulfate intermediates all contain the incorporated silver adatoms. The monoatomic silver islands are formed by released silver adatoms in the original surface oxide layer.

Courtesy of:
Ling Zhou, Weiwei Gao, and Robert J. Madix – School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University

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Image of the Month
Posted Date: November 1, 2007
iotm-november-2007

Microscope:
RHK UHV7500 AFM/STM

Controls:
RHK Technology SPM 1000 featuring XPMProTM and the PLLPro AFM Controller

Description:
Molecular resolution of a monolayer of the organic molecule PTCDA (perylene-tetracarboxylic-dianhydride) obtained in non-contact mode using a frequency shift of -32 Hz for the setpoint. The cantilever oscillation amplitude was 34 nm and the data was obtained at room temperature.

Courtesy of:
Tino Roll, AG Schleberger, Universität Duisburg-Essen

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Image of the Month
Posted Date: October 1, 2007
iotm-october-2007

Microscope:
Veeco Bioscope

Controls:
RHK Technology SPM 1000 featuring XPMProTM

Description:
Near-field signal maps of the InGaN islands were collected under excitation by two different visible laser wavelengths, 633 nm (Fig. B) and 532 nm (Fig. C). Scattered near-field measurements indicate that the as-grown InGaN islanded film may exhibit both inhomogeneous In composition and strain-induced changes that affect the optical signal at 633 nm and 532 nm.

Apertureless near-field microscope is based on the commercial AFM controlled by the SPM 1000 controller. Linearly polarized radiation from a HeNe laser (633 nm) or frequency-doubled Nd:YAG cw laser (532 nm) is directed into a microscope objective lens and focused onto the sample at an angle of 30° with respect to the sample surface. Back scattered radiation from the tip-sample junction is collected by the same objective lens. Optical and topography images of the sample are recorded simultaneously.

Courtesy of: Larissa V. Stebounova, Yaroslav E. Romanyuk, Dongxue Chen, and Stephen R. Leone

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory & University of California, Berkeley

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