A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is a type of scanning probe microscope used for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, then at IBM Zürich, the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986. 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. This means that individual atoms can routinely be imaged and manipulated. Most scanning tunneling microscopes are built for use in ultra-high vacuum at temperatures approaching absolute zero, but variants exist for studies in air, water and other environments, and for temperatures over 1000 °C.
a scanning tunneling microscope (stm) is a type of scanning probe microscope used for imaging surfaces at the atomic level its development in 1981 earned its inventors gerd binnig and heinrich rohrer then at ibm zürich the nobel prize in physics in 1986 stm senses the surface by using an extremely sharp conducting tip that can distinguish features smaller than 01 nm with a 001 nm (10 pm) depth resolution this means that individual atoms can routinely be imaged and manipulated most scanning tunneling microscopes are built for use in ultra-high vacuum at temperatures approaching absolute zero but variants exist for studies in air water and other environments and for temperatures over 1000 °c