Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM)

Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer developed the first working STM while working at
IBM Zurich Research Laboratories in Switzerland. This instrument would later win
Binnig and Rohrer the Nobel prize in physics in 1986.
An instrument for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. STM senses the surface by
using an extremely sharp conducting tip that can distinguish features smaller than
0.1 nm with a 0.01 nm (10 pm) depth resolution

IBM research
Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM)
Scanning Tunneling Microscope works based on tunneling effect. The schematic diagram of
the STM is as shown below.

Wikipedia
Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM)

 The electrons can tunnel from tip to the sample (or vice
versa) through a nano gap maintained between them.
 The tunneling current is measured and converted to
surface profile of the sample using image processing
technique. As shown in the magnified image of the tip, the
sharpness is up to a single atomic dimension so that the
resolution tunneling current signal and the images are
also up to atomic dimensions.
 Tip is connected to an electrically controlled piezo
electric tube, which moves along all the three axes to
adjust the position of the tip while scanning over the
sample. The sample is supplied with a bias voltage
(usually in the range of 5 mV) to maintain the direction of
the tunneling current. As the tunneling current will be in
the range of micro amperes, it is amplified by tunneling
current amplifier.
Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM)
STM operates in two different modes; that are 1. Constant height mode and 2.
Constant current mode.

The height of the probe is continually adjusted to give a constant tunnelling

current, and the adjustments are recorded so that a map of surface height versus
position is built up. Such a map is able to resolve individual atoms on a surface.
STM images
The STM image below shows the direction of standing-wave patterns in the local
density of states of the Cu(111) surface. These spatial oscillations are quantum-
mechanical interference patterns caused by scattering of the two-dimensional electron
gas off the Fe atoms and point defects.

Ref: https://www.nanoscience.com/techniques/scanning-tunneling-microscopy/
STM images

STM images of single-layer BCN on Ir(111), grown at substrate temperatures of 25

°C (a) and at 980 °C (b–e). The bias voltages were −1 and +4 V in (a) and (b),

ACS Nano 2017, 11, 3, 2486–2493 Ref: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.6b08136

Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary field of study. Scientists
working in physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, information
technology, metrology, and other fields are contributing to today's
research breakthroughs.

The simplest definition of nanotechnology is “technology at

the nanoscale”.

What is Nano?

A nanometre (nm) is extremely small –

one billionth of a metre to be precise,
i.e., 0.000000001 m. This is 80,000
times smaller than the width of a human
hair.
 Definition

A size limitation of
nanotechnology to
the 1-100 nm range,
the area where size-
dependent quantum
effects come to bear.

Human hair fragment and a network of single-walled

carbon nanotubes (Image: Jirka Cech)
Nanotechnology

http://nanomed.yolasite.com/what-nanotechnology-is.php
Macro, Micro and Nano scale
 Visualization
Nanotechnology is the creation of functional materials, devices and
systems, through the understanding and control of matter at
dimensions in the nanometer scale length (1-100 nm), where new
functionalities and properties of matter are observed and harnessed
for a broad range of applications

Fullerenes C60

www.physics.ucr.edu
12,756 Km 22 cm 0.7 nm

1.27 × 107 m 0.22 m 0.7 × 10-9 m

10 millions times 1 billion times

smaller smaller
 Nanoscale Size Effect: What is so special?

• Realization of miniaturized devices and systems while

providing more functionality and less power consumption

• Attainment of high surface area to volume ratio

When we look at materials on a nano scale level, the relative
importance of the different laws of physics shift and effects that we
normally do not notice (such as quantum effects) become more
significant, especially for sizes less than 20 nm

https://www.pathwayz.org/Tree/Plain/SURFACE+AREA+TO+VOLUME+RATIO
 Nanoscale Size Effect: What is so special?

High surface area to volume ratio

Materials with high surface area to volume ratio (e.g. very small diameter,
very porous, or otherwise not compact) react at much faster rates than
monolithic materials, because more surface is available to react. An
example is grain dust: while grain is not typically flammable, grain dust is
explosive. Finely ground salt dissolves much more quickly than coarse
salt.
InAs bulk and nano

3 inch InAs wafer

InAs QDs

10.3390/photonics2020646 https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.200700892
 Nanoscale Size Effect: What is so special?

• Manifestation of novel phenomena and properties, including

changes in:
- Physical Properties (e.g. melting point)
- Chemical Properties (e.g. reactivity)
- Electrical Properties (e.g. conductivity)
- Mechanical Properties (e.g. strength)
- Optical Properties (e.g. light emission)

A bulk material should have constant physical

properties regardless of its size, but at the nano-scale
this is often not the case
Some unique properties due to being nano

No conduction band in metal instead discreet energy

states at the edge. Electrons will undergo quantum
confinement in nano metal particles (Quantum dots)

The change in inter-particle spacing and the larger

surface to volume ratio changes surface free energy
and hence chemical potential. This influences
thermodynamic properties: melting point of gold
decreases with the size of Au-nanoparticle
Some unique properties due to being nano

• Sharp decrease of processing temperature of materials

for particle being nano from micrometer size

• Enhancement of Catalytic properties is phenomenal

Nanosized Pt, Pd can absorb upto 8 H2 per metal atom
(normally the ratio is 1:1 in macroscopic dimensions)

Enhancement of properties such as

Magnetic, electric, optical,
thermodynamical etc. so on Au Ag
Copper nanoparticles smaller than 50 nm are
considered super hard materials that do not exhibit
the same malleability and ductility as bulk copper

However, ferroelectric materials smaller than 10 nm

can switch their magnetisation direction using room
temperature thermal energy, thus making them
useless for memory storage
Size matters??

CdSe GaAs

Dabbousi et al., J. Phys. Chem. B 1997, 101, 9463-9475 J. Nayak et al., Physica E 24 (2004) 227–233

Ref: NPTEL
Moore`s Law Scaling of transistor

Co-Founder of the Intel Corporation (in 1965)

Infamous empirical laws:

 The amount of space required to install a transistor on a
chip shrinks by roughly half every 18 months
300
Chip size (nm)

200
Nano
100 scale

2000 2010 2020

Year
In other words,
The number of transistors per square inch has doubled approximately
every 18 months that is computing power doubles every 18-months.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK321721/figure/oin_tutorial.F3/
Nanolithography: How Small Can it go?

1995 1998 2005 2019

AMD dual core AMD Ryzen

AMD OpteronTM 9 3900X
Athlon ™ Processor
Processor
AMD K6 ®- III
Processor

0.25mm 180 nm 90 nm 7 & 12 nm

9 million 37 million 233 million
9,890,000,000
transistors transistors transistors
199 mm2 273 mm2
78 mm2 120 mm2
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/moores-law-linear-approximation-mathematical-analysis-taraate/
https://www.nextplatform.com/
Types of Nano-materials

Ceramic nano
Metal nano
Nanocomposites
Semiconductor nano
Types of Carbon Nano-materials

https://www.compositesworld.com
Techniques for synthesis of Nanomaterials
There are two general approaches for the synthesis of
nanomaterials

Top-down approach involves the breaking

down of the bulk material into nanosized
structures or particles.

Bottom up approach refers to the build up of

a material from the bottom: atom by atom,
molecule by molecule
 Quantum confinement
Definition
When the bulk material ~ few tens nm then energy levels
where electrons reside are almost continuous and behave
like bands
However, when the dimension of the particle is below 10 nm
and matches with the electron or hole wave functions, the
energy levels of electrons become more discrete due to the
confinement of the de Broglie wave function of electron/hole
within the dimension. This is known as quantum
confinement.
This changes the electrical and optical properties with
respect to bulk. As the dimension decreases the
confinement becomes stronger and energy levels become
far apart from each other
Quantum confinement Energy band diagram

Bulk confined

Size decreasing
Ref: UW
 A nano dimension

Bulk

Quantum
Laser well

CNT Quantum
wire

Quantum dot
Solar cells, LEDs, Transistor
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.180387
 Quantum well
A quantum well is a potential well that confines particles, which were originally free to
move in three dimensions, to one dimension, forcing them to occupy a planar region. The
effects of quantum confinement take place when the quantum well thickness becomes
comparable at the de Broglie wavelength of the carriers (generally electrons and holes),
leading to energy levels called "energy subbands", i.e., the carriers can only have discrete
energy values. Example: GaAs Laser

Quantum wire
A quantum wire is an electrically conducting wire (10 nm or less width & thickness), in
which quantum effects are affecting transport properties. Due to the confinement of
conduction electrons in the transverse direction of the wire, their transverse energy is
quantized. It is confined in two dimensions. Example: carbon nanotube

Quantum dots
A quantum dot is a semiconductor whose excitons (electron-hole pair) are confined in all
three spatial dimensions. As a result, they have properties that are between those of bulk
semiconductors and those of discrete molecules.
Researchers have studied quantum dots in transistors, solar cells, LEDs, and diode lasers.
They have also investigated quantum dots as agents for medical imaging and hope to use
them as qubits
Industry applications of Nano

1. GaAs Quantum Well Laser

2. Quantum Well Infrared camera

NASA
3. Single electron transistor~ quantum computing
Industry applications of Nano

4. Quantum dot solar cell

https://www.x-mol.com/paper/5995816

5. Medical Science
Nanotechnology-based drugs
Abraxane, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) to treat breast cancer, non-small- cell lung
cancer (NSCLC)and pancreatic cancer is the nanoparticle
albumin bound paclitaxel
Sensing
Gold nanoparticles tagged with short segments of DNA can be used
for detection of genetic sequence in a sample. Multi-color optical
coding for biological assays has been achieved by embedding
different-sized quantum dots into polymeric microbeads.
Industry applications of Nano
6. Bio-FET

Optical biosensors for the detection of ethanol, mannitol, penicillin and urea
and a four-channel enzyme-based thermistor for the simultaneous detection
of different sugars and metabolizable components and for immunoassay.