In-situ nanoscale transport measurements on monoatomic metal films by low-temperature scanning tunneling potentiometry

TL;DR

This paper introduces a low-temperature scanning tunneling potentiometry technique to measure nanoscale transport properties of monoatomic metal films in-situ, enabling detailed surface conductivity analysis free from thermal and electronic artifacts.

Contribution

It develops a novel low-temperature STP method for in-situ measurements on monoatomic metal films, addressing previous challenges of low-temperature and ex-situ sample preparation.

Findings

Successful operation of low-temperature STP on in-situ prepared metal films

Identification and formulation of nonlinear-DOS artifacts in measurements

Validation of artifact correction through spectroscopy comparison

Abstract

Investigation of transport properties is fundamental for characterizing electronic properties and phase transitions. However, most of the transport measurements on conductive layers have been performed at macroscopic scales, and thus the development of microscopic methods to measure transport is important. Scanning tunneling potentiometry (STP) is a powerful tool for investigating surface conductivity at nano-scale spatial resolutions. However, it is still challenging to conduct STP studies at low temperatures and most of the low-temperature studies were performed on samples that were prepared ex-situ. In this study, we developed a low-temperature STP and demonstrated its performance on monoatomic metal films formed on Si(111) substrates that were prepared in-situ. Stable operation at low temperatures enables us to extract the electrochemical potential originating from the surface transport by canceling out the potential due to thermal differences and artifacts arising from the nonlinearity of the density of states (DOS). We also formulated the nonlinear-DOS artifact and confirmed it by comparing with the nonlinearity obtained by scanning tunneling spectroscopy.