title: Electrically conductive and optically transparent Sb-doped SnO2 STM-probe for local excitation of electroluminescence.
abstract: We demonstrate that an optically transparent and electrically conductive antimon-doped tin-oxide tip that is prepared in a sol-gel process can be used as a probe for scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), yielding atomic vertical and nanometre lateral resolution. Emission of visible light from the tunnelling junction between gold particles and the tip is observed for bias voltages above 7 V. In contrast to the metallic tips generally used in STM, this tip does not significantly perturb the local optical response. Therefore, the tunnelling induced light can be used to map the optical near-field of surface structures with the tunnel gap acting as highly localised light source for the investigation of near-field enhancement in complex metal structures.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, D-55021 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Volker
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jacobsen
authors.forename: Tanel
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tätte
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Branscheid
authors.forename: Uno
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Mäeorg
authors.forename: Kristjan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saal
authors.forename: Ilmar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kink
authors.forename: Ants
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lõhmus
authors.forename: Maximilian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kreiter