Method to characterize the vibrational response of a beetle type scanning tunneling microscope

We describe a method for analyzing the external vibrations and intrinsic mechanical resonances affecting scanning probe microscopes by using the microscope as an accelerometer. We show that clear correlations can be established between the frequencies of mechanical vibrational modes and the frequencies of peaks in the tunnel current noise power spectrum. When this method is applied to our “beetle” type scanning tunneling microscope (STM), we find unexpected low frequency “rattling resonances” in the 500–1700 Hz range that depend on the exact lateral position of the STM, in addition to the expected mechanical resonances of the STM above 4 kHz which are in good agreement with theoretical estimates. We believe that these rattling resonances may be a general problem for scanning probe microscopes that use some type of kinetic motion for coarse positioning.