Scanning tunneling microscopy with a large-gap semiconductor tip

Atomic-resolution images of the Si(111)-(7 × 7) surface are reported for a scanning tunneling microscope with a large-band-gap semiconducting SiC tip. The semiconducting tip allows one to use the forbidden band gap to inhibit some tunneling transitions, and so raises the possibility of new and interesting surface spectroscopies. © 1994 IOP Publishing Ltd.