Tunneling acoustic microscope.

摘要

A scanning tunneling microscope, in which the gap between a tip (11) having a keenly sharpened end and a sample (1) is narrowed to let flow a tunneling current between them and thereby allow observation of the surface of the sample, comprises device (3, 4) disposed on said sample or in the vicinity of the sample to detect strain waves generated within the sample. By modulating the value of the above described tunneling current, strain waves are generated within the sample. The strain waves are detected by the above described strain waves detecting devices. On the basis of the amplitude information and phase information of detected strain waves, physical information regarding the inside of the sample is obtained.