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Scanning Tunnelling Microscopes (STM) are capable of capturing images of surfaces with atomic-scale resolution.This is achieved by scanning an atomically sharp probe across the surface of the sample while monitoring an electric current.However, the quality of STM data relies heavily on the atomic-scale geometry and composition of the scanning probe apex, as well as the roughness and cleanliness of the scanned region.For instance, blunt tips result in blurry images while contaminated tips can lead to noisy images due to interactions with the sample.As a result, optimal STM data acquisition commonly requires time-consuming tasks such as probe conditioning-i.e., sharpening via "tip-shaping", where the apex of the probe can be refined by poking it into a clean metal surface-and identification of areas of interest of the sample.Moreover, the quality of the probe can vary during a scan, especially when scanning over debris or excessively rough areas, necessitating additional tip-shaping.
Ceddia et al. (Mon,) studied this question.