Structural investigation of surfaces of blue bronze and hematite by scanning tunneling microscopy

Abstract

Images of the surfaces of cleaved crystals of K0.3MoO3 (blue bronze) and α-Fe2O3 (hematite) have been obtained in air at room temperature using a scanning tunneling microscope in the fast scanning mode. The pictures show a resolution in the range of 0.5 nm and compare well with surface structures derived from the bulk crystal parameters.