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A Scan ning Tun neling Microsco pe (STM) is a d evice for imaging con d ucting s urfaces at very high m agnification s d ow n to t he scale of in dividual ato m s. The STM d oe s t his by m ech a nically scan ning a s h ar p t u ngs te n tip over t h e s u rface (sa m ple to be sca n ne d). Piezoelectric ele me nt s can p r ovide t he necessary s m all tra nslations of t he tip. A bias voltage is a p plied between t he tip a n d t he s a m ple. When t he tip is b ro ug h t within abo ut 10 (1n m ) of t he sa m ple, electro n s fro m t he sa m ple begin to "tu n nel" t h ro ug h t he 10 gap into t he tip or vice versa, de pe n ding u p o n t he p olarity of t he bias voltage. The res ulting t u n neling cur ren t varies with tip - to - s a m ple s p acing, bo t h t he sa m ple an d t he tip m u s t be con d uctor s or se micon d uctors. The t u n neling curren t is a n expo ne n tial function of dista nce. Based o n q ua n t u m m ech a nics, t he t u n n eling curre nt (It ) is, It = ex p( - k d) where d is t he dista nce between tip an d s a m ple s u rface. This res ult t u r n s ou t to be t he key to STM. If a n ato mically s har p tip is u se d, t he t u n n eling curre nt fro m t he first ato m of t he tip will be ex pone n tially larger t ha n t h a t of t he tip ato m s which are slightly be hin d it. If t he se paratio n between t he tip a n d t he s a m ple cha nges by 1 0% (on t he or der of 1), t he t u n neling cur ren t cha nges by an or der of m agnit u de. This expo ne n tial de pe n de nce gives STMs t heir re ma rkable se n sitivity. STMs can image t h e s u rface of t he sa m ple with s u b - angs tro m p r ecision vertically, an d ato mic resolu tion laterally. The Scanning Tu n neling Microscope (STM) is t he a nces tor of all sca n ning p r obe micro sco pes. It was invente d in 1981 by Gred Binnig a n d Heinrich Rocher at IBM Zurich. Five years later t hey were awar de d t he Nobel Prize in Physics for its inventio n. The STM was t h e first instr u me n t to generate real - s pace images of s u rface with, so called, ato mic resolution (ato mic lattice resolution to be p recise). As t he co ncep t is relatively sim ple. Just place a s har p t u ngs te n or platin u m irra diu m tip close to a co n d ucting s urface, so close t h a t t he wave functions of t he closest tip ato m an d s urface ato m s overla p. Apply a p o te n tial differe nce between tip an d s u rface a n d a t u n n eling curre n t flows. But t h ere are real challenges to con t rol t he dis ta nce betwee n tip an d sa m ple at few a ngs tro m witho u t cras hing t he tip to t he s u rface. The feedback circuit, tip a p p r oach m echa nis m, an d o t her electronic m o d ules s ho uld be very rob us t. The overall noise level of t he syste m s h o uld be < mV.
The overall sche me of t he sca n ning t u n n eling microscope (STM) is s how n in figure 1. It o u tlines t he d a ta acq uisition ,con trol circuit logic a n d t he feedback loop for t he STM.
Figure 1: Data acq uisition a n d co ntr ol circuit logic for t he STM. The overall sche me a n d t h e feed back cont rol circuit is o utline d here.
The no n - inverting inp u t of t he o p - a m p is gro u n de d, a n d t he voltage at t he inverting in p u t s ho uld be eq ual to gro u n d. This im plies VOUT = - IIN * RFB ; RFB is 1G ! in o ur de sign
of curren t is o ut of t he o p - a m p. For RFB = 1G !, 200 pico a m p ere of t u n neling current res ults in an o u t p u t voltage of 200 mV.
VTC VZp i
Res e t Gain (0.1- 2)
PGA
Program m able Gain Am p lifier
+/
P
Prop ort ion al Gain Am p lifier
Polarit y Select or In t egrat ion circu it An alog Swit ch Tim e con s t an t 10s 10m s
"
Error Sign al
" y z x
Tip Bias volt age Volt age t o Zp iez o High Volt age Gain
IIN
Sam p le Sam p le Dis c Segm en t e d Scan n er Piez o Tu n n elin g Cu rr en t Am p lifier
VTC
B
Bu ffer
VS
Set Poin t for d es ired cu rren t
Figu re.3. illustrates t he block diagra m for t he z - m o tion, i.e. t he m o tion of t he tip p er pe n dicular to t he plane of t he sa m ple, of t he STM. A s tr aight forwar d a nalysis of t he syste m m ay be perfor me dif t he sys te m is as s u m e d to be linear. Most of t he co m p o ne n t s be have in a fairly linear fas hion excep t for t he t u n n eling gap. The t u n neling gap o ut p u t is a n expo ne ntially varying cur ren t for linear variations in t he gap dista nce b u t it can be treate d as linear if t he variations in t he gap dista nce are s m all. By t his as s u m p tio n we can o mit t he req uire me nt of logarith mic a m plifier after curre nt to voltage conver ter in t he design. The goal of t he fee d back circuit d e sign is to mini mi ze t he error signal ". The con tr ol block is develo pe d s uch t h a t t he syste m m aintains t he d e sired t u n neling curren t with t he n eces sary accuracy. The co ns train ts p u t o n t he electro nics d esign are : 1. The res ulting syste m m u s t be s table, i.e. t he error signal " m u s t n o t increase in a n u n b o u n de d fas hion (when t he feedback loo p is on) as a fu nction of ti me. 2. The s tea dy s ta te error of t he syste m m u s t be s m all. 3. The tr a n sient res po n se of t he syste m m u s t be reasonably fas t an d oscillation s s ho ul d decay q uickly. Keeping in min d t he above ba sic req uire me n t s of t he syste m de sign, t he error signal " is p r oces se d by t he feedback electro nics which typically contain s a p r o p or tion al gain a m plifier, a n integrator circuit a n d a high voltage gain a m plifier. The p r o p o r tional gain a m plifier ha s a si m ple p r o por tio nal cont rol fu nction G1 (s) = k P #c / (s + #c) Where k P is t he dc - gain a n d #c is t he high freque ncy cutoff at f c = #c / 2 $. Since t he s tea dy s tate error signal " in o ur design is reference signal divide d by t he ter m 1 +G(s), so if t he p r o po r tional gain k P is large t he n t he s tea dy s ta te error signal " is s m all, b u t n ot z ero. Practically we h ave see n t h at for s ufficien tly high gain t he syste m beco mes u n s ta ble. Th us t here is a co m p r o mise between re d ucing t he s tea dy s tate error signal a n d m aintaining t he sys te m s tability with p r o p o r tional s tage. A low pa s filter ha s been inclu de d in t he p r o p or tional gain s tage to im p r ove t he sys te m s tability. The cutoff freq uency #c is m uc h lower ( ~ 1.6k h z) t ha n t he pie zoelectric ele me nts reso n a n t freq ue ncy ( ~ 10k h z). This low p a s s filter p revent s t he p r o p o r tional gain s t age fro m a m plifying t he reson a nce. The dc gain of t he p r o p otio nal gain s tage varies fro m 0.1 to 2. The finite s tea dy s t ate error h as bee n eliminate d by inclu ding a n integrator in t he con t rol block. In fact we can say t his feedback con t rol is m o re like a integratio n o nly con t rol syste m. In t he d e sign integratio n s tage follows t he p r o por tional gain s tage an d t he res ulting tr a n sfer fu nctio n is G1 (s) = k P #c / (s + #c) * k I / s Here t he first ter m is t he p r o po r tio nal gain with a n u p pe r cutoff freq ue ncy #c, while t he secon d ter m is a n integrator with gain k I. The integrator causes a s m all error signal to be integrate d in ti me, p r o d ucing m o re an d m o re cont rol action u n til t he error is eliminate d. Thus t he s tea dy s tate error of t his syste m is z e ro for a signal t h a t cha nges in a s te p like m a n ner. The p olarity selector switch selects t he p h a se of t he signal s uch t ha t t he syste m
con s tit ute n egative feedback to m ain tain a cons ta n t curre n t in close d loo p. The signal is followed by t he high voltage gain a m plifier. The high voltage a m plifier ha s a tr a nsfer fu nctio n G2 (s) = k hv #hv / (s + #hv) Where k hv is t he dc gain an d #hv is t he high freque ncy cu toff of t he a m plifier. The integrator circuit p r ovides a n integration co m pe n sa tion, ty pically ti me con s ta n t varies fro m 10 s to 10 m s. A high voltage a m plifier p r ovides a n o ut p u t of 10 0V to d rive t he z - pie zo. The o u t p u t of t he feedback electro nics is a p plied to t he z - pie zo (tip), to keep t he erro r between t he act ual t u n n eling curre nt an d t h e reference cur re n t very s m all. As t he tip is sca n ne d acros s t he s u rface, variation s in t he sa m ple to pogra p hy an d electro nic s tr uct u re affect t he t u n neling cur ren t. The fee d back co ntr ol circuit m u s t react to bring t he curre n t back to t he de sire d value. Ideally, t he correction s ho uld be m a de insta nt a neo usly a n d exactly. However, t here is always a finite res po n se time of t he feed back contr ol syste m. The voltage a p plied to t he tip (before high voltage a m plifier) is digitize d with 16 - bit resolu tio n a nalog - to - digital conver ter (ADC) an d recor de d as t he to pogra p hic image.
P - I Con t r ol Setting s :
Proportional dc Gain: Vp = KP * (VT # (1 / 1 0)VS) Verror = VT Vs k P = (100 % + 20k %(variable)) / 10k ! = 0.1 to 2.1 P - Gain Dial Pot (10 - t ur n s) Settings: 6.5 k P = (100 % + (6.5 / 1 0)*20k %) / 10k ! = 13.1k % / 1 0k ! = 1.31 Integration circuit settings: Zpi = 1 /T * !t (Vp) d t I - Gain Dial Pot (10 - t u r n s) Settings: 3.0 RI = 1 00 % + (3.0 / 1 0)*100k % = 30.1k % CI = 0.1uF Integral Ti me Consta nt: T = 3 0.1 * 0.1 & f = 3.01 * 10 - 3 s = 3.01 m s
For calculating X a n d Y m ove me n t / volt we ass u me t h at equal a n d o p p o site voltages are a p plied on t he o p p osite q ua d ra n t s. X-Y Flex m o tion u sing m ulti - electro de co nfiguration is given below: 'X = 1.8 * d 3 1 * V x * L / [ ID * (OD - ID) ] where, 'X : Deflection p r o d uce d in t he scan ner pie zo along X-axis d 3 1 : Piezoelectric Charge Coefficient (pC /N) L : Length of t he Scan ner Tube Vx : Ap plied Voltage ID : Inner Diameter of t he t u be OD : Outer Dia meter of t he t u be Our Pie z o Param eters are: d 31 : - 215 pC /N L : 11.0 m m Vx : 1V ID : 5.33 m m OD : 6.60 m m Therefore, for Vx = 1V 'X = 1.8 * ( - 21 5 * 1 0 - 12 ) * 1 * (11 * 1 0 - 3 ) / [ 5.33 * 10 - 3 * (6.60 - 5.33) * 10 - 3 ] = 69 17.7 * 10 - 12 m = 6.9177 * 10 - 9 m = 6.9177 n m So, the d eflection produ ce d in th e pie z o tub e in X /Y direction = 6. 9 1 7 7 n m / V Peculiarit y o f De sign: Since, t he voltage a p plied on t he o p p o site faces of sca n ner pie zo seg me n t are of o p p o site p olarity - t he p o te ntial difference between t hese two faces is d o u ble of t he act ual voltage a p plied. So, when t he DAC ou t p u t o n t he X/Y seg me nt s of t he sca n ner pie zo is, say V volts t he deflection p r o d uced in t he t ube corres po n d s to 2V volts. Hence, in t his case t he deflection p r o d uce d for when X/Y Scan signal is 1V is cha nge d. 'X = 2 * 6.9177 n m = 1 3.835 n m /V The valu e o f d eflection produc ed (in thi s ca s e) in X /Y direction = 1 3.8 3 5 nm /V These calculatio ns gave fair idea of t he or der of X an d Y scan voltages req uired. These X a n d Y voltages will co me fro m Digital - to - Analog converters d riven by software. Since o u r DACs are 12 - bit resolution with ra nge 1 0V. So t he mi ni m u m cha nge in X, Y voltages will be 20 00 0 mV / 4096 s te p s = 4.88 mV p e r s te p in t he large area m o de of sca n ning. The m axi m u m scan ning area of abo u t 2800 a ng str o m s by 28 00 angs tro m s (280 n m x 280 n m) is achieved with 10 volts a n d 25 6 s te p s p er
line sca n, with o u r scan ner t ube. In t he s m all area m o de(highes t resolutio n), DACs p r o d ucing X a n d Y sca n voltages are res tricte d to 2.5V ra nge over 12 - bit resolu tion, so t he mi ni m u m change in X, Y voltage is 5000 mV / 4 0 96 = 1.22 mV. The min imu m sca n ning area ( with highes t resolution) of abo u t 43 a ngs tro m s by 43 a ngst ro m s is achieved with t his scan m o d e. Since a typical ato m si ze is aro u n d 3 a ngst ro m in dia meter, s o with t he s m all area m o de we can resolve t he ato m s e.g. HOPG (Highly Oriente d Pyrolytic Grap hite) sa m ple. There is a a no t her se t of DACs p r ovided ( o ne each for X an d Y) called offset DACs which will p o sition t he tip o n x - y plane to take highes t resolutio n scan s o n differ en t locatio n s of t he s urface. We can p o sitio n t he tip u sing t hese offset DACs in x - y plane a n d genera te two equal an d o p p o site sawtoot h waves i.e. X+ on one electr o de q ua d r a n t a n d X- o n o p po site electro de q ua d r a n t u sing scan DAC. Many sawtoo t h waves will be generate d d u ring X-sca n ning (na me d horizo n tal scan ning) with Y incre me n te d at t he en d of each x - scan / r e tr ace line. Alter natively, m a ny s awtoot h waves will be generate d d u ring Y-scan ning (na me d vertical sca n ning) with X incre me n te d at t he en d of each y - scan / r e tr ace line. To fur t her increase t he scan area we are u sing high voltage a m plifiers which is a m plifying t hese X+, X-, Y+ a n d Y- sca n voltages. In effective we are increasing t he ra nge of s u rface area scan s. These high voltage a m plifier can be u se d in two gain m o de s either 1X or 10X, which is software con trolled. The 1X gain m o d e is kee ping t he scan voltages in t he + - 1 0V ra nge. Where as 10X gain m o de jacks u p t he scan voltages to 100V ra nge. Effectively o ur m axi m u m sca n area in t he 10X m o d e is abo u t 2.8 m by 2.8 m.
'L = 2 * d 3 1 * V Z * L / [OD - ID ] where, 'L : Change in lengt h in t he sca n ner pie zo along Z - axis d 3 1 : Piezoelectric Charge Coefficient (pC /N) L : Length of t he Scan ner Tube VZ : Ap plied Voltage ID : Inner Diameter of t he t u be OD : Outer Dia meter of t he t u be 'L = 2 *215* 10 - 12 *1 *11.0 * 10 - 3 / [6.60 - 5.33] * 10 - 3 = 3724.4 * 10 - 12 m /V
= 37.244 Ao / V = 3.7 n m / V In o u r scan n er pie zo t his value co me s o ut to be 3.7n m /V. There are o t her co m p o n e n t s which are a d de d at t he high voltage s tage i.e. Z - offset voltage (12 - bit DAC), ra nges 1 0V, a n d X/Y slo p co m pe n s ation. Since in t he to p ogra p hic image we are interes te d in s m aller variation s of t he fee d back voltage. The Z - offset co m p o ne n t corrects t he dc - offset intro d uce d by t he feedback circuit in t he Z - voltage. The slo p co m p e n s atio n co m p o ne n t is effective while sca n ning an d eliminates any slo p between t he tip an d sa m ple s u rface. The final Z - voltage after high voltage a m plifier is, Zhi = HVA - Gain * (Zpi + Zoffset + X/Y - Slope Com p o ne n t s) HVA - Gain = 10
Gain s elect ion for p rogr am m ab le Con t r ols t h e d igit iz at ion of t u n n elin g cu r ren t or Zp i volt age Select s con s t an t cu rr en t (CC) or con s t an t h eigh t (CH) m od e of s can n in g
The ADC digitizes t h e ZPi signal whe n t he loop is on an d digitizes t he t u n neling voltage VTC signal irres pective of t he loop on / off. This feat u re is im ple me nte d since while coar se a p p r oach we want to check t he t u n neling voltage with feed back loo p o n. It m akes t he coar se a p p r oach a uto m a tic as soo n as tip an d sa m ple are within t u n neling ra nge t he coar se a p p r oach m ec ha nis m s to p s an d feedback loo p takes t he con t rol of tip m ove me nt. The p r ogra m m a ble gain a m plifier (PGA) p r ovides t he gain, 1 to 1 28 (2 0 2 7), selection before t he signal fe d to t he ADC. ADC ha s inp u t ra nge 1 0V with 16 - bit accuracy an d 1MHz conver sion clock. As soo n as ADC co nvert s t he d ata, it is rea d by t he PC via p a rallel p or t. Piezot u be walker contr ol signals WDIR, walker direction ( forwar d or backwar d) an d WPULSE, (interr u p t signal to t he micro - controller in walker circuit.) are software d riven. These two signals contr ol t he walker m o tio n a n d set t he direction as far war d d u ring coarse a p p r oach. If we want to extract t he tip we set t he direction b ackwar d a n d p r ovide walker p ulses, it will m ove t he walker in backwar d direction a n d tip co mes o u t of t u n neling.
If t he walker as se m bly takes p ositive s te p voltages to m a ke forwar d m o tion t h en t he negative s te p voltages will give backwar d m o tion to t he walker. These s te p volt ages are extracte d fro m 50 Hz 1 5 0V peak - to - peak AC signal.
Software:
The acq uisition an d t he a nalysis s oftware for t he STM is written with Pytho n scripts a n d Tkinter for gra p hical u ser interface (GUI). A wra p per d river in C is written for t he LPT oor t a n d inser te d as a ker nel m o d ule.
Overall de sign vi e w of m echanical as s e mbl y of s can head pie zo, sa mple holder , graphical u s er interface (GUI) and the control elec tronics :
Res ult s: To p ogra p hic im age of Highly Orie n te d Pyrolytic Gra p hite
(HOPG)