Week+of+4-8-2013

4-10-2013 I came into the lab and began scanning a sample of a C-60 multi-layer on gold BL-3719.33 Å, 8 A/D, 100 ms/line. I zoomed into the middle of this image as it looked mostly flat. BM-1000 Å, 32 A/D, 100 ms/line. I think some of the blurriness here can be attributed to the longer than usual line time used. I zoomed into the lower left. BN-250 Å,64 A/D, 50 ms/line. In this image, there seemed to be a blurriness caused either by the tip or by the drift. I zoomed back out to find what I deemed to be a flatter area. Also this image looked nothing like the region I was attempting to zoom in to which indicates a large amount of drift. BO-1000 Å, 64 A/D, 50 ms/line. I decided to scan same area to look at how much it would drift. BP-1000 Å Å, 64 A/D, 50 ms/line. I can't find any resemblance between this image and the last. I zoomed into the bottom left BQ-500 Å 64 A/D, 50 ms/line- I zoomed into the upper left of this image which appeared to be the flattest area in this image. BR- 250 Å, 64 A/D, 50 ms/line. I moved the scanning region up after this image to avoid the pit in the bottom middle. There is not much definition here and this is probably due to the extremely high amounts of drift we were experience on this day. BS-250 Å, 64 A/D, 50 ms/line. I moved to the right after this image. This image exhibited a similarly low level of definition that the previous one had. The surface molecules can not be clearly seen here. BT-250 Å, 64 A/D, 50 ms/line- I scanned the same area to try to look at how much the tip was actually drifting. BU-250 Å, 64 A/D, 50 ms/line. The mound in the upper left of this image resembles the mound in the bottom left of the previous image. The tip drifted about 200 angstroms up and just a bit to the right. I do not think this is indicative of the scope's behavior as a whole but if I remember correctly, this is probably due to scanning when the temperature had not yet reached the desired temperature of -7.0 degrees Celsius. We have typically not been using the isolation tables to scan and have relied on the low temperature and nitrogen filled scope to ensure scanning stability. BV-250 Å, 64 A/D, 50 ms/line. I moved the scanning region downward after this image so that the scanning region included the bottom half of this current image. BW-250 Å, 64 A/D, 50 ms/line. Because of the drift, the only part that seems to remain from the previous region is that in the upper right here and the lower right in the previous image. The drift is fairly inconsistent between all of the images and seems to be lower here than than the last time I tried to measure it. There is not much that this image can reveal about the multi-layer nature of the C-60. Matt decided that he was going to try to prep the sample differently to improve our chances of scanning a sample that actually had a decent surface layer. 4-11-2013 I came into the lab and began scanning a sample of C-60 on gold. It was prepped differently: the C-60 solution was Supersaturated then Matt placed the sample in the liquid for 4 minutes. BJ-2000 Å, 32 A/D, 100 ms/line. Here, the small dots on this surface suggest the C-60 molecules that we are looking for. I zoomed in to the upper middle region. BK- 1000 Å, 32 A/D, 100 ms/line. This gives more credence that what we were looking at in the previous image was actually a surface covered in C-60 molecules. I zoomed into the bottom left of this image. BL-500 Å, 64 A/D, 50 ms/line. Here, one can see the C-60 molecules as the circles on the on the surface. The difference in brightness between different molecules suggest that the molecules may effectively be stacked on top of each other in some spots. I zoomed into the bottom right corner of this region. BM-250 Å, 128 A/D, 50 ms/line. The main problem with this image and the following images at this scale is that the tip is not sharp enough to gather good information about the C-60 molecules on the surface. I moved the scanning region up afterwards.

BN-250 Å, 128 A/D, 50 ms/line. This image is much blurrier than the previous one and is a lot more streaky. It's harder to tell where one molecule ends and another begins. I moved the scanning region to the left. BO-250 Å, 128 A/D, 50 ms/line. This image contains a lot of the same problems that the one before it does. I moved it downwards after it. BP-250 Å, 128 A/D, 50 ms/line. There is just simply not much to this image. It is too blurry to see almost anything on the surface. I zoomed out to find a different region to scan. BQ-1000 Å, 128 A/D, 50 ms/line Again, one can see the basis of a C-60 layer that has formed on this surface. However, because of the lack of definition provided by the tip, it is difficult to make any definite conclusions about its actual properties. I zoomed into the upper left. BR-250 Å, 128 A/D, 50 ms/line. I moved to the right following this image. BS-250 A, 128 A/D, 50 ms/line. I moved downwards after scanning this image. BT- 250 A, 128 A/D, 50 ms/line. I moved the scanning region to the left after this image. BU-250 A, 128 A/D, 50 ms/line. Not much can be obtained from any of the last four images. The tip's quality prevents me from seeing into any depth how the C-60 molecules have arranged on the surface, especially how they interact with each other because of the way that their borders have been blurred so much that it is hard to tell where one ends and where the next begins.