New Software Simulating the Full Operation of a Scanning Tunneling Microscope and Its Application to an FPGA-Based Instrument

Abstract

The scanning tunneling microscope is an essential tool in nanoscience and nanotechnology, because it enables imaging surfaces at the atomic level with subnanometer resolution. We have written a LabVIEW-based virtual instrument to simulate the operation of an STM and made it available as a free-download at our company website. This is an executable version to be run on a Windows operating system without requiring other software. We have also constructed an STM that implements the same algorithms with a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to provide deterministic real-time control of multiple tasks.

Keywords: Scanning Tunneling Microscope, Field-Programmable Gate Array, Nanoscience, Nanotechnology