Scanning tunneling microscope

A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) can be used to probe the tunnel current from a sample. This video is intended to demonstrate how we can operate such a STM in order to generate images which can resolve individual atoms.
In this video you can see a small STM with two displays on the background. We look-up close how the sample approaches the conducting needle of the STM. Hereafter, we see the needle and sample getting in closer proximity of each other on the left display, while on the right display we can see the tunnel current rising. We end with scanning an area of the sample, where the measured current is depicted as an image of individual atoms on the right screen, while the needle is moving rapidly on the left screen.
This video was made possible using the free-content from:
blender.org
poliigon.com
freesound.org