Miniature active damping stage for scanning probe applications in ultra high vacuum.

Scanning probe microscope (SPM) experiments demand a low vibration level to minimize the external influence on the measured signal. We present a miniature six-degree of freedom active damping stage based on a Gough-Stewart platform (hexapod) which is positioned in ultra high vacuum as close to the SPM as possible. In this way, vibrations originating from the experimental setup can be effectively reduced providing a quiet environment for the SPM.

Design criteria for scanning tunneling microscopes to reduce the response to external mechanical disturbances.

We present a simple one-dimensional model to find design criteria for a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) minimizing the response of the tip-sample distance to external mechanical disturbances. The underlying concept-achieving a response that is in phase and same amplitude-goes beyond the conventional approach to construct the STM as stiff as possible. It introduces optimization conditions relating the resonance frequencies of the different components to the STM assembly, which can be implemented accordingly during the STM design process.