HYSTERESIS CORRECTION OF SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE IMAGES

The hysteresis of the scanning elements in STM are known to cause geom etrically distorted images. By analyzing the traces and retraces of th e tip, the hysteresis can be quantified and a general model describing the hysteresis can be constructed. That the use of the inverse model can eliminate the hysteresis distortion in STM images is demonstrated. The method does not require any specific ordering of the image. Anoth er method that can be used only on images of surfaces with ordered pat terns is also presented. It is an iterative technique where the highes t peak in the Fourier domain is maximized by tuning the hysteresis mod el.