PHOTOINDUCED SCANNING-TUNNELING-MICROSCOPY OF INSULATING DIAMOND FILMS

Insulating diamond films were imaged by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) utilizing photoinduced bulk carrier transport to establish tunne ling currents. General comparisons of topographic STM images and atomi c force microscopy images acquired on the same sample demonstrate that submicrometer structures obtained in the images can be correlated. Th is observation establishes that the topography of an insulating surfac e such as diamond can be imaged under illumination by STM. The results suggest that local electronic structure of illuminated insulating sur faces can be probed using scanning tunneling spectroscopy.