Highly resolved non-contact atomic force microscopy images of semiconductor surfaces

Non-contact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) is a powerful tool for the atomic level observation of various kinds of surfaces including even insulators, and it has been rapidly developed [1]. While the main observable value in the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is a tunneling current between a tip and a surface, the main observable value in NC-AFM is a frequency shift of the cantilever oscillation induced by the presence of a force between the atoms of sample surface and atoms of tip apex. From the first observation of semiconductor surfaces using NC-AFM, the performance of NC-AFM has been improved and nowadays NCAFM images of semiconductor surfaces with resolution beyond STM were obtained. In this contribution, we report highly resolved NC-AFM images of Sn/Si(111)-(2√3×2√3) surfaces and iron silicide c(4×8) surfaces.