title: Low conductive support for thermal insulation of a sample holder of a variable temperature scanning tunneling microscope.
abstract: We have designed a supporting system to fix a sample holder of a scanning tunneling microscope in an UHV chamber at room temperature. The microscope will operate down to a temperature of 20 K. Low thermal conductance, high mechanical stiffness, and small dimensions are the main features of the supporting system. Three sets of four glass balls placed in vertices of a tetrahedron are used for thermal insulation based on small contact areas between the glass balls. We have analyzed the thermal conductivity of the contacts between the balls mutually and between a ball and a metallic plate while the results have been applied to the entire support. The calculation based on a simple model of the setup has been verified with some experimental measurements. In comparison with other feasible supporting structures, the designed support has the lowest thermal conductance.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Scientific Instruments of the ASCR, v.v.i., Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kralovopolska 147, 612 64 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hanzelka
authors.forename: Jakub
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vonka
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Musilova