We describe the design and performance of a fast-scanning, variable temperature scanning tunneling microscope (STM) operating from 80 to 700 K in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV), which routinely achieves large scale atomically resolved imaging of compact metallic surfaces. An efficient in-vacuum vibration isolation and cryogenic system allows for no external vibration isolation of the UHV chamber. The design of the sample holder and STM head permits imaging

Nearly two-dimensional (2D) metallic systems formed in charge inversion layers1 and artificial layered materials2,3 permit the existence of low-energy collective excitations4,5, called 2D plasmons, which are not found in a three-dimensional (3D) metal. These excitations have caused considerable interest because their low energy allows them to participate in many dynamical processes involving electrons and phonons3, and because they might mediate

We present a combined experimental and theoretical study of the self-assembly of C60 molecules functionalized with long alkane chains on the (111) surface of silver. We find that the conformation of the functionalized C60 changes upon adsorption on Ag(111) and that the unit cell size in the self-assembled monolayer is determined by the interactions between the functional groups. We show that C60 molecules can be assembled in ordered 2D arrays with