Device for in-situ cleaving of hard crystals

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel in-situ cleaving device for hard crystals, inspired by diagonal cutting pliers, compatible with ultra-high vacuum, enabling atomically flat surface preparation for materials research.

Contribution

It presents a new cleaving device design based on diagonal cutting pliers principles, suitable for ultra-high vacuum environments, improving surface quality for hard materials.

Findings

Successfully cleaved NiO(001) surfaces with atomic-scale flatness.

Optical and atomic force microscopy confirmed surface quality.

Device works well for hard materials in vacuum conditions.

Abstract

Cleaving crystals in a vacuum chamber is a simple method for obtaining atomically flat and clean surfaces for materials that have a preferential cleaving plane. Most in-situ cleavers use parallel cutting edges that are applied from two sides on the sample. We found in ambient experiments that diagonal cutting pliers, where the cleavage force is introduced in a single point instead of a line work very well also for hard materials. Here, we incorporate the diagonal cutting plier principle in a design compatible with ultra-high vacuum requirements. We show optical microscopy (mm scale) and atomic force microscopy (atomic scale) images of NiO(001) surfaces cleaved with this device.