A low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy system for measuring Si at 4.2 K

In this paper we describe our low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy system with ultrahigh vacuum sample preparation capabilities. The main focus lies on the specialized silicon preparation facility which is the most unusual part. Other special solutions such as sample transport will also be described in detail. Finally, we demonstrate the ability to prepare high quality silicon (111) and (100) surfaces. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3427217]