5. Instrumentation

Building a microscope with a local probe involves solving some tricky instrumentation problems. These include the probe, the device for relative movement of probe and sample, and calibration to a very high level of accuracy. Particular attention needs to be paid to the electronics of the servo system that controls the movement of the probe during scanning.

Last but not least, isolation from environmental vibrations is essential. In this respect, it should be remembered that the first attempt at a microscope very similar to the STM, the topografiner , was a partial failure (unable to operate in the tunneling regime, i.e. with the resolution of the STM) due to insufficient isolation from...