Differential Conductance Imaging of Si and Ge Islands Deposited on Si(001) by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

The current modulation imaging techniques based on scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) were applied to Si and Ge islands grown on a Si(001) surface to reveal the atomic and electronic structures of their surfaces. These techniques are advantageous for acquiring both the images of topography and electronic states with a good signal/noise in a short time over the sample surface. The topographic effect over the step of the islands was demonstrated as an artifact that appears in the images of the electronic states.