Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help
O: Oberflächenphysik
O 33: Scanning probe techniques III
O 33.4: Talk
Thursday, March 30, 2006, 12:00–12:15, PHY C213
Development of an ultra-low cost scanning tunneling microscope for high-school education — •Grit Petschick1, Holger Eisele1, Robert Kastl2, Kai Hodeck1, Volkhard Nordmeier2, and Mario Dähne1 — 1Technische Universität, Festerkörperphysik, Hardenbergstr. 36, 10623 Berlin — 2Freie Universität, Didaktik der Physik
25 years ago we learned in school that atoms cannot be optically imaged. But nowadays, since the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) in the early 1980th it is possible to map surfaces on the atomic scale. Today, a various number of microscopic possibilities exist to image atoms, still none is as simple and trouble-free as the scanning tunneling microscope itself. As schools funds are strictly limited it is mostly not possible to equip them with commercial microscopes and thus to gain experince about the nano-world of atoms at the state of the art of modern physics in the 21st century.
We report on the development and construction of an ultra-low cost scanning tunneling mircoscope setup, which is designed especially for high-school education requirements. A special challenge was to comply with safety requirements, requiring a special design of the piezo-based coarse approximation. Yet, another requirement towards capability was the possibility to image actual solid surfaces at the atomic scale. The aim towards school application is to get pupils to independently prepare and analyse surfaces of graphite and mica.