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Scanning Tunnelling Microscope

Guide : Dr. Aparna Deshapande, IISER Pune

Report Feb 2016

Nitin kumar
Reg No. 20131019
BS-MS 3rd year
IISER PUNE

Introduction
Carbon is one of the very interesting elements which constitutes a major part of the living as well as
non-living world. It also is the backbone of an important branch of chemistry viz. polymer chemistry. It
is not surprising that clusters and nanomaterials that we know today provide a rich variety of carbon
forms. We can get carbon in various forms as 0-D (small clusters and fullerenes as well as nano
diamonds), 1-D (carbon nanotubes), 2-D (graphene and graphane) and 3-D (diamonds) materials.
What Are Carbon Nanotubes?

Carbon nanotubes can be considered as cylinders made of graphite sheets, mostly closed at
the ends, with carbon atoms on the apexes of the hexagons, just like on a graphite sheet.
during their formation, nanotubes get capped with hemispheres of fullerenes. It is also
possible that many concentric cylinders may be formed as a nanotube. Such concentric
nanotubes are termed as Multi Wall Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT). The distance between
their walls is 0.334 nm. This is similar to what one gets between two graphite layers in a
single crystal.MWCNT are most common and easily formed.
Atomic Force Microscopy
Both the AFM and the STM microscopy techniques work without optical focusing elements.
Instead, a small sharp probing tip is scanned very closely across the samples surface. The
distance between the tip and the sample surface is so small that atomic-range forces act
between them. In an AFM, tip is attached to the end of a cantilever in order to measure
these forces. The force acting on the tip can then be determined by detecting the deflection
of this cantilever. The measurement of the cantilever deflection can be used to control the
tip surface distance on an atomic scale. . This measurement is a so-called static
measurement mode, in which the static deflection of the cantilever is used. Generally, the
forces acting on the tip will cause it to snap onto the sample, which result in an effective,
nanometer-range flattening of the tip, and friction and stiction between the tip and the
sample. Dynamic force microscopy modes can be used . The cantilever vibrates during the
operation in these measurement modes. In the dynamic modes, changes in the free
resonance frequency and the damping of the cantilever vibration caused by the forces
between the tip and the cantilever can be measured and used for controlling the tip-sample
distance.

Experimental process

I started with the preparation of carbon nanotube sample for AFM


After preparation of sample I did AFM of carbon nanotube but
unsuccessful in 2 trails
After 2 nd trail I got multi walled carbon nano tube of diameter around 60
nm
Tungsten Tip Preparation
When performing STM measurements, the stability of the tip plays a crucial role.
Therefore, a sharp tip which comes to a point rapidly is desired With the aim of
achieving these characteristics, several concentrations and applied voltages have been
tried the optimal parameters for etching are a solution concentration of 2.8g
NaOH/20ml distilled water and an applied voltage of roughly 4V.

Conclusion
I learnt how to operate AFM and STM .
I learnt how to prepare tungsten tip
Got the cylindrical multiwalled carbon nanotube of diameter 60 nm.

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