Non-topographic current contrast in scanning field emission microscopy

G. Bertolini; O. Gürlü; R. Pröbsting; D. Westholm; J. Wei; U. Ramsperger; D. A. Zanin; H. Cabrera; D. Pescia; J. P. Xanthakis; M. Schnedler; R. E. Dunin-Borkowski

doi:10.1098/rsos.210511

Non-topographic current contrast in scanning field emission microscopy

G. Bertolini, O. Gürlü, R. Pröbsting, D. Westholm, J. Wei, U. Ramsperger, D. A. Zanin, H. Cabrera, D. Pescia^*, J. P. Xanthakis, M. Schnedler, R. E. Dunin-Borkowski

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In scanning field emission microscopy (SFEM), a tip (the source) is approached to few (or a few tens of) nanometres distance from a surface (the collector) and biased to field-emit electrons. In a previous study (Zanin et al. 2016 Proc. R. Soc. A 472, 20160475. (doi:10.1098/rspa.2016.0475)), the field-emitted current was found to change by approximately 1% at a monatomic surface step (approx. 200 pm thick). Here we prepare surface domains of adjacent different materials that, in some instances, have a topographic contrast smaller than 15 pm. Nevertheless, we observe a contrast in the field-emitted current as high as 10%. This non-topographic collector material dependence is a yet unexplored degree of freedom calling for a new understanding of the quantum mechanical tunnelling barrier at the source site that takes into account the properties of the material at the collector site.

Original language	English
Article number	5009064
Journal	Royal Society Open Science
Volume	8
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.210511
Publication status	Published - Jul 2021
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors.

Funding

Data accessibility. The ad hoc software used to analyse the images is available at Zenodo: https://zenodo.org/record/ 3675444#.YOMsNn7TWUk [33]. All data required to support the conclusions of the presented research are contained in the included figures. Authors’ contributions. G.B., O.G. and R.P. did the experiments reported in figures 2, 3, 4b, 4d, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12. D.W, J.W. and U.R. did the experiments reported in figures 4a, 4c and 11. D.A.Z. and U.R. built the instruments used in this work. H.C. discussed the paper. M.S. did the simulations reported in figure 5. M.S., J.P.X. and R.E.D.-B. provided the theoretical input and discussed the paper. D.P. wrote the paper. Competing interests. We declare we have no competing interests. Funding. The research was partially funded by Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN), grant no. 606988 under FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN, the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF grant no. 20-134422) and the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI grant no. 9860.1 PFNM-NM). Acknowledgements. O.G. thanks M. Erbudak and E. Tosatti. D.P. thanks A. Kyritsakis and C. Walker for helpful discussions. D.P., G.B., J.W., D.W. and U.R. thank R. Forbes for helpful discussions.

Funders	Funder number
Seventh Framework Programme	606988
Marie Curie	FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung	20-134422
Kommission für Technologie und Innovation	9860.1 PFNM-NM

Keywords

current-voltage characteristics
field emission
scanning tunnelling microscopy
surface imaging

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10.1098/rsos.210511

Cite this

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title = "Non-topographic current contrast in scanning field emission microscopy",

abstract = "In scanning field emission microscopy (SFEM), a tip (the source) is approached to few (or a few tens of) nanometres distance from a surface (the collector) and biased to field-emit electrons. In a previous study (Zanin et al. 2016 Proc. R. Soc. A 472, 20160475. (doi:10.1098/rspa.2016.0475)), the field-emitted current was found to change by approximately 1% at a monatomic surface step (approx. 200 pm thick). Here we prepare surface domains of adjacent different materials that, in some instances, have a topographic contrast smaller than 15 pm. Nevertheless, we observe a contrast in the field-emitted current as high as 10%. This non-topographic collector material dependence is a yet unexplored degree of freedom calling for a new understanding of the quantum mechanical tunnelling barrier at the source site that takes into account the properties of the material at the collector site.",

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AU - Ramsperger, U.

AU - Zanin, D. A.

AU - Cabrera, H.

AU - Pescia, D.

AU - Xanthakis, J. P.

AU - Schnedler, M.

AU - Dunin-Borkowski, R. E.

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Non-topographic current contrast in scanning field emission microscopy

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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