Home-Built Scanning Tunneling Microscope (2015) • Hacker News Board

Re: Home-Built Scanning Tunneling Microscope (2015)

#21

Post by edge17 » Thu, Apr 08, 2021, 8:33 PM UTC

Can someone ELI5 the vibration isolation [0] part of it? I kind of get what he's doing, but would appreciate some analogy if it makes sense to make an analogy.

[0] https://dberard.com/home-built-stm/vibration-isolation/

Re: Home-Built Scanning Tunneling Microscope (2015)

#22

Post by Retric » Thu, Apr 08, 2021, 8:37 PM UTC

ortusdux wrote: post #9

amelius wrote: post #4

Can you image non-conductive surfaces with this technique?

Best you can do is gold plate the object you would like to scan. Sputter coating is the preferred method. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanning_electron_microscope#S...

That’s a SEM which is significantly lower resolution, but lets you zoom in and out across a huge range.

STM on the other hand is for looking at individual atoms so coating a surface is just going to show that coating. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanning_tunneling_microscope

Re: Home-Built Scanning Tunneling Microscope (2015)

#23

Post by feralimal » Thu, Apr 08, 2021, 8:38 PM UTC

minitoar wrote: post #20

feralimal wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure its a cool project. But its not showing things directly, is it? Its interpreting a frequency and converting that to an image. Is it really that different to a music visualiser?

I mean, what is your brain doing if not that?

You don't think there's a difference between what you see with your naked eye, and what is visualised for you by sensors and software?

Re: Home-Built Scanning Tunneling Microscope (2015)

#24

Post by leblancfg » Thu, Apr 08, 2021, 8:46 PM UTC

Can we add [2015] to the title?

Re: Home-Built Scanning Tunneling Microscope (2015)

#25

Post by feralimal » Thu, Apr 08, 2021, 8:49 PM UTC

Yes, look at all that squashed DNA, lol.

Seriously though, how do we know that is DNA? It just looks like wiggly worms.

And the DNA pic is black and white, but the picture of graphite is in colour. How is it in colour? Is it 'enhanced' with photoshop or something?

Re: Home-Built Scanning Tunneling Microscope (2015)

#26

Post by ortusdux » Thu, Apr 08, 2021, 8:50 PM UTC

oasisbob wrote: post #14

ortusdux wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best you can do is gold plate the object you would like to scan. Sputter coating is the preferred method. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanning_electron_microscope#S...

That's for SEM. I've never heard of sputter coating used for STM.

You are right, I got those two methods mixed up. It looks like gold sputter coating would be a good solution for the home made tungsten STM tips mentioned in the link.

Re: Home-Built Scanning Tunneling Microscope (2015)

#27

Post by gryn » Thu, Apr 08, 2021, 8:57 PM UTC

feralimal wrote: post #23

minitoar wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, what is your brain doing if not that?

You don't think there's a difference between what you see with your naked eye, and what is visualised for you by sensors and software?

do you think your eye is not a sensor ?

Re: Home-Built Scanning Tunneling Microscope (2015)

#28

Post by _Microft » Thu, Apr 08, 2021, 9:00 PM UTC

twobitshifter wrote: post #6

Ben Krasnow built his electron scanning microscope back in 2011. I never expected to see that one upped. https://benkrasnow.blogspot.com/2011/03/diy-scanning-electro...

The scanning electron microscope project seems far more involved than this one. I submitted the SEM before this one by the way but it unfortunately did not catch on.

Re: Home-Built Scanning Tunneling Microscope (2015)

#29

Post by nightfly » Thu, Apr 08, 2021, 9:01 PM UTC

feralimal wrote: post #23

minitoar wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, what is your brain doing if not that?

You don't think there's a difference between what you see with your naked eye, and what is visualised for you by sensors and software?

Sure, but digital cameras are still useful.

Re: Home-Built Scanning Tunneling Microscope (2015)

#30

Post by snalty » Thu, Apr 08, 2021, 9:03 PM UTC

feralimal wrote: post #25

Yes, look at all that squashed DNA, lol. Seriously though, how do we know that is DNA? It just looks like wiggly worms. And the DNA pic is black and white, but the picture of graphite is in colour. How is it in colour? Is it 'enhanced' with photoshop or something?

False colour is pretty much standard for many imaging techniques including STM.