Atomic microscope

Whatever happened to the homebrew Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) project? I don't know. I guess I will try to re-create the project here.

Open-hardware plans for an atomic-resolution scanning microscope.

Juergen Mueller has some detailed plans. http://www.e-basteln.de/

Parts needed for an STM:

• computer
• computer-to-analog interface
• analog to high-voltage analog amplifiers
• piezo tube (are there any other alternatives for atomic-resolution positioning?)
• mounting hardware
• vibration isolation hardware (cases, rubber feet, bungee cords, etc.)
• tips (there seem to be a wide variety of prices)
• ... what am I missing ? ...

What's the total cost?

I've heard that some people run their STMs "in solution", the tip of the probe scanning the bottom of a dish of water. So, contrary to popular belief, you do *not* need a vacuum chamber. Some can run successfully in air, too.

... help fill in the details ...

software

• Gwyddion ( http://gwyddion.net/ ) is a modular program for SPM (scanning probe microscopy) data visualization and analysis. Gwyddion is intended for analysis of height fields obtained by means of scanning probe microscopy techniques (AFM, MFM, STM, SNOM/NSOM), but generally it can be used for any other height field and image analysis. GPL.

• GXSM is the Gnome X Scanning Microscopy project ( http://gxsm.sourceforge.net/ ) ... hardware support for DSP cards including open source DSP software and a growing set of SPM related electronics... also provides generic multidimensional image and data movie processing. GXSM screenshot.

further reading

• Detailed plans for a STM from Universität Münster
• "Bryan's analytical instrumentation page" has a bunch of literature and web links related to atomic microscopes and how to build them (STM and SFM)
• The Science of Spectroscopy wiki has some information on atomic force microscopes
• Wikibooks has a chapter on Scanning probe microscopy
• Wikipedia has a nice introduction to various forms of Wikipedia: Scanning probe microscopy such as Wikipedia: Scanning tunneling microscope, Wikipedia: Electrostatic force microscope, Wikipedia: Atomic nanoscope etc.
• the Wikimedia Commons has some STM-related images
• "If you buy a microscope for the home what level of detail would one be able to see?" gives these references for "building your own Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM)":
  • 1. Lewis et al. "Student Scanning Tunneling Microscope" Am. J. Phys, 59(1), 38-42. (1991)
  • 2. Dieter W. Pohl, "Some design criteria in scanning tunneling microscopy", IBM J. Res. Dev., 30(4), 417-427, (1986)
  • 3. Binnig & Rohrer, "Scanning Tunneling Microscopy" IBM J. Res. Dev., 30(4), 355-369, (1986)
  • 4. Binnig & Smith, "Single-Tube Three-Dimensional Scanner for Scanning Tunneling Microscopy", Rev. Sci. Instrum. 57(8), 1688-1689, (1986)
  • 5. Sears et al., "A Scanning Tunneling Microscope for Undergraduate Laboratories", Computers in Physics Jul/Aug, 427-430, (1990)
• IBM research has published many articles about microscope design, including the above Pohl article.
• Das Rastertunnelmikroskop
• "Scanning Tunneling Microscope - Do It Yourself"
• "How to build a Plastic-AFM head": The performance of this instrument has been investigated in a paper (Kühner 2007)

Ferdinand Kühner, Robert A. Lugmaier, Steffen Mihatsch, and Hermann E. Gaub, "Print your atomic force microscope", Rev. Sci. Instrum. 78, 075105 (2007).

• Makezine: scanning tunneling microscope mentions
  • Simple STM Project uses an extremely low cost piezo element ($1.80) compared to the $200+ piezo tube used in other STMs.

• Carbon Design Innovations sells carbon nanotube probes for atomic microscopes.

Related projects

• Is anyone working on an open-hardware Earth's field nuclear magnetic resonance (EFNMR)? That is a completely different way of making atomic-resolution measurements of (sufficient quantities of) some molecule.
• Is it possible to reprogram a RepRap to build an atomic microscope?