A compact ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) system has been built to study growth and
properties of III/V semiconductor surfaces and nanostructures. The system a
llows one to grow III/V semiconductor surfaces by molecular beam epitaxy (M
BE) and analyze their surface by a variety of surface analysis techniques.
The geometric structure is examined by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM),
low-energy electron diffraction and reflection high-energy electron diffra
ction. The electronic properties of the surfaces are studied by angular res
olved photoemission either in the laboratory using a helium discharge lamp
or at the Berlin Synchrotron Radiation Facility BESSY. In order to meet the
space restriction at BESSY the system dimensions are kept very small. A de
tailed description of the apparatus and the sample handling system is given
. For the UHV-STM (Park Scientific Instruments, VP2) a new, versatile tip h
andling mechanism has been developed. It allows the transfer of tips out of
the chamber and furthermore, the in situ tip cleaning by electron annealin
g. In addition, another more reliable in situ tip-preparation technique ope
rating the STM in the field emission regime is described. The ability of th
e system is shown by an atomically resolved STM image of the c(4x4) reconst
ructed GaAs(001) surface. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0034-67
48(00)04102-2].