Russian Society of Scanning Probe Microscopy and Nanotechnology

The organizers of a Museum beforehand apologize for incompleteness of an exposition and ask the visitors of a Museum to send the remarks and exhibits.

Founding Fathers of Scanning Probe Microscopy.

The founders Scanning Probe Microscopy are Binnig и Rohrer. Patent for Scanning Tunneling Microscope was issued Aug. 10, 1982 (Priority Sept. 20, 1979)

Heinrich Rohrer, left, and Gerd K. Binnig, right, scientists at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory in Switzerland, are awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in physics for their work in scanning tunneling microscopy. The researchers are recognized for developing the powerful microscopy technique, which allows scientists to view individual atoms on the surface of a sample. The photo is kindly submitted for a museum by Dr. G. Binnig.

Heinrich Rohrer

Heinrich Rohrer, along with his colleague, Gerd K. Binnig, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986 for his work in scanning tunneling microscopy. Binnig and Rohrer were recognized for developing the powerful microscopy technique, which can form an image of individual atoms on a metal or semiconductor surface by scanning the tip of a needle overthe surface at a height of only a few atomic diameters.They shared the award with German scientist Ernst Ruska, designer of the first electron microscope.

Born in Buchs, Switzerland, on June 6, 1933, Dr. Rohrer was educated at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1955 and his doctorate degree in 1960. After post-doctoral work at the Swiss Federal Institute and Rutgers University in the United States, Dr. Rohrer joined IBM's newly formed Zurich Research Laboratory, studying, among other things, Kondo materials and antiferromagnets before turning his attention to scanning tunneling microscopy. Dr. Rohrer was appointed an IBM Fellow in 1986, and was manager of the physical sciences department at the Zurich Research Laboratory from 1986 to 1988. He retired from IBM in July 1997. Last job - Laboratory of Physics of small systems and Nanotechnology, Calle Serrano 144 , Madrid 28006, Espana. E-mail: h.rohrer@fsp.csic.es

Gerd K. Binnig

Gerd K. Binnig, along with his colleague, Heinrich Rohrer, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in in 1986 for his work in scanning tunneling microscopy. Binnig and Rohrer were recognized for developing the powerful microscopy technique, which can form an image of individual atoms on a metal or semiconductor surface by scanning the tip of a needle overthe surface at a height of only a few atomic diameters. They shared the award with German scientist Ernst Ruska, designer of the first electron microscope.

Born in Frankfurt, Germany, on July 20, 1947, Dr. Binnig was educated at J.W. Goethe University in Frankfurt, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1973 and his doctorate degree in 1978. That year he joined a physics research group at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory. Dr. Binnig was assigned to IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose, Calif., from 1985 to 1986, and was a visiting professor at nearby Stanford University from 1987 to 1988.

Dr. Binnig was appointed an IBM Fellow in 1987 and remains a research staff member at IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory.

It must be noted however that as long as in 1966 Russell Young has stated idea about an opportunity of surface topografing with usage of current between surface and sharp metallic tip. In 1971 he have published paper about device colled Topografiner, which contained all major assemblies of Scanning Probe Microscope.

Russell Young and his co-workers Fredric Scire and John Ward (left to right) with the Topografiner.

Russel Young

Russell D. Young obtained his B.S. degree in physics from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1953 and his Ph.D. degree in physics from Pennsylvania State University in 1959. He remained at Penn State in the laboratory of Professor Erwin Mueller for his postdoctoral research, which was marked by several outstanding achievements. Among these were the development of a high resolution field emission energy analyzer and the first measurement of the total energy distribution of field emitted electrons, as well as contributions to the development of the low temperature field ion microscope. He came to the National Bureau of Standards in 1961. His development of the Topografiner was an outgrowth of his continued study of surfaces at NBS. After the termination of this project in 1971, he remained at NBS in both a technical and an administrative role until his retirement in 1981. Since then he has actively pursued his interests as an inventor, as a private consultant to industry and government (including NIST), and as a grandfather and a sailor.

Dr. Young's achievements have been recognized in several awards. In 1974, he was the first recipient of the Edward U. Condon Award, conferred by NBS in recognition of outstanding scientific writing. He received the U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal in 1979, a Presidential Citation in 1986, and the Scientific Achievement Award of the Washington Academy of Sciences in 1987. In 1992, the American Vacuum Society recognized his invention of the Topografiner by presenting him with the Gaede-Langmuir Award.

Description of Topografiner was published in papers ( Phys. Rev. Lett. V. 27, N 14, 1971, P. 922-924. Full text.) ( Rev. Sc. Instr. V. 43, N 7,1972, P. 999-1011. Full text.) , from where presented below figures and commentaries are taked .

Present realization of the Topografiner. The differential screw is used as a coarse adjustment to bring the specimen close enough to the emitter so that it is within the range of the vertical (Z) piezo. The X-scan piezo deflects the emitter support post so as to scan the emitter in one direction. The orthogonal (Y) piezo is not shown. The specimen is clamped between copper blocks to permit heating. An electron multiplier permits detection of secondary electrons.

Block diagram for the Topografiner electrical circuitry. The X-Y recorder is frequently replaced with a memory oscilloscope which results in rapid scan rates with somewhat reduced fidelily. The OPS bias permits positioning the emitter at an appropriate distance from the surface. Details of the servo loop are discussed in the next.

(a)

(b)

(a) Topographic map of a 180 line/mm diffraction grating replica. This map was made with using an X-Y recorder. Note the rippled surface at the base of the groove which may have been caused by ruling instrument chatter or replica re- moval. Details of the diamond tool used in the ruling engine are evident. The emitter was kept about 200 A. above the surface during these runs.

(b) Topographic map recorded on a memory oscilloscope of a disturbed region of the same grating as (a). The vertical magnification is about twice ihe horizontal magnifcation. The contrast is reversed for easy comparison with (a). The close spaced prohles give a highly desirable pictorial representation of the surface topography. Mapping time—9 min.

Though Young has achieved 3 А resolution on Topographiner and pointed out the opportunity taking images of monoatomic steps, he not assumpted that it is possible to view single atoms. It was done by Binnig and Rohrer - and they became Nobelists.

Exact copy of first Scanning Tunneling Microscope of Binning and Rohrer (original have not preserved). The photo is kindly submitted for a museum by mister G. Binnig.

1982. Triumph of Scanning Probe Microscopy - image of silicon surface 7x7 reconstruction.