SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPY SYSTEM FOR THE STUDY OF SURFACES IRRADIATED WITH LOW-ENERGY IONS

An ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) operating scanning tunneling microscope (STM ) has been designed and built with the aim of studying surfaces irradi ated with low energy ions. Because the low energy ion implanter was si ted in a location remote from the STM laboratory, it was also necessar y to design and build a portable vacuum system which was capable of in terfacing with both the ion implanter and the STM chamber, and thus, e ffect a sample transfer under UHV. This article presents a description of the STM and a selection of recent research results which demonstra te the capabilities of the system. In particular, the article reports on the development of small-scale structures on graphite, platinum, an d copper surfaces after irradiation with low-energy helium ions and on the growth of copper islands formed by ion beam deposition on graphit e substrates.