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 journalArticlepeer-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 languageEnglish
Article number5009064
JournalRoyal Society Open Science
Volume8
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2021
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors.

Keywords

  • current-voltage characteristics
  • field emission
  • scanning tunnelling microscopy
  • surface imaging

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