Design of a scanning probe microscope

• A compact scanning probe microscope for operation in air and liquid is described. The probe techniques implemented are scanning tunnelling microscopy and scanning ion conductance microscopy. The software, electronics, mechanical construction and some representative measurements are presented. The compact and concentric microscope head is built around a commercial piezoelectric inchworm motor. The scanner is a standard piezo tube. An analogue feedback system is used for taking images, while digital control of the probe-sample distance is used for other experiments, such as measurements of current-voltage characteristics. A Macintosh personal computer is used for control and presentation of data. A simple method to make scanning tunnelling microscope tips suitable for electrochemical use is described. The microscope has a high resonance frequency (9.6 kHz), low noise (0.01 nm Hz- 12 / at 10 Hz), low thermal drift (less than 0.1 nm min-1), and high acoustical noise suppression. The current-distance-dependency of the scanning ion conductance microscope was found to be linear.  

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