Spatial distribution of tunnel current and application to scanning-tunneling microscopy: A semiclassical treatment
- 15 July 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review B
- Vol. 36 (2) , 898-903
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.36.898
Abstract
The Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin approximation is extended to consider tunneling through three-dimensional potential barriers. The formalism is used to obtain the tunnel-current density in a scanning-tunneling microscope with a realistic model of the potential barrier. It is shown that the tunnel-current density has a sharp peak under the tip, and that explains the high lateral resolution of the instrument.Keywords
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