Simultaneous imaging of Si(111) 7×7 with atomic resolution in scanning tunneling microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and atomic force microscopy noncontact mode

The reconstructed Si (111) 7×7 surface was imaged in several operation modes of the combined ultrahigh vacuum atomic force microscope/scanning tunnel microscope. By imaging single atom defects on the sample surface a clear proof of the atomic resolution in noncontact mode of the force microscope was possible. By simultaneous measurements of several interaction parameters and by the investigation of force-distance curves, it was possible to explain the origin of the interaction.