title: Development and application of multiple-probe scanning probe microscopes.
abstract: In the research of advanced materials based on nanoscience and nanotechnology, it is often desirable to measure nanoscale local electrical conductivity at a designated position of a given sample. For this purpose, multiple-probe scanning probe microscopes (MP-SPMs), in which two, three or four scanning tunneling microscope (STM) or atomic force microscope (AFM) probes are operated independently, have been developed. Each probe in an MP-SPM is used not only for observing high-resolution STM or AFM images but also for forming an electrical contact enabling nanoscale local electrical conductivity measurement. The world's first double-probe STM (DP-STM) developed by the authors, which was subsequently modified to a triple-probe STM (TP-STM), has been used to measure the conductivities of one-dimensional metal nanowires and carbon nanotubes and also two-dimensional molecular films. A quadruple-probe STM (QP-STM) has also been developed and used to measure the conductivity of two-dimensional molecular films without the ambiguity of contact resistance between the probe and sample. Moreover, a quadruple-probe AFM (QP-AFM) with four conductive tuning-fork-type self-detection force sensing probes has been developed to measure the conductivity of a nanostructure on an insulating substrate. A general-purpose computer software to control four probes at the same time has also been developed and used in the operation of the QP-AFM. These developments and applications of MP-SPMs are reviewed in this paper.
authors.affiliation: International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomonobu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shingaya
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Higuchi
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.forename: Chun-Sheng
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Taichi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okuda
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kuwahara
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takami
authors.forename: Masakazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aono
mesh_terms: D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004867:Equipment Design; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry; D020527:Microscopy, Scanning Probe / Q000295:instrumentation*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon