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"...a sharp (<50 nm tip radius) metal tip is produced and PLACED IN an ultra high VACUUM chamber , which is backfilled with an imaging gas such as helium or neon.[...] Gas atoms ABSORBED ON THE TIP..."
How could this be if the tip is placed in an "ultra high vacuum chamber"? The only way atoms could be absorbed on the tip is by actually being inside the chamber...
I think this should be flagged for experts to look at. I am having trouble believing this is real. If those are atoms in the picture, then what is the reddish "liquid"? Why do some of the "atoms" seem to be joined into an elongated structure while the majority of them seem to be granular? If this is a structure with a single atom at it's tip, why does it look like a large sphere with dimples in it? What about the Heisenberg uncertainty principle for measuring the very tiny? Are the granules electron clouds then? 66.75.41.5201:17, 24 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
The FIM is real. If, for some reason, you don't find J. Chem. Phys. a reputable enough source (!?!), then you can look at any of the other papers on Field Ion Microscopy. As per the caption, "The lighter colored elongated features are traces captured as atoms moved during the imaging process." The "dimples" you see are crystallographic poles. Fig. 6 of the J. Chem. Phys. article is a schematic of the tip. FIM is no longer the only technique which offers sub-nanometer resolution and Heisenberg doesn't forbid this kind of instrumentation. It is a common exercise in physics classes to plug numbers into HUP & find that, because atoms are relatively massive (compared to, say, electrons), their positions can be determined rather precisely. --Karnesky06:36, 24 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you. Us programmers don't get into materials sciences very much. Also, I lack a subscription to the J. Chem. Phys. and am not allowed to read the article online. 66.75.41.5219:43, 24 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]
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