Long-range Scanning Tunneling Microscope for the study of nanostructures on insulating substrates

The Scanning Tunneling Microscope is a powerful tool for studying the electronic properties at the atomic level, however it’s relatively small scanning range and the fact that it can only operate on conducting samples prevents its application to study heterogeneous samples consisting on conducting and insulating regions. Here we present a long-range scanning tunneling microscope capable of detecting conducting micro and nanostructures on insulating substrates using a technique based on the capacitance between the tip and the sample and performing STM studies.