The Department of Chemistry will acquire a Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) for undergraduate education. The project intends the incorporation of STM into the junior and senior years of the undergraduate chemistry curriculum at the University of Miami. STM is a conceptually and instrumentally simple technique which has developed from an esoteric research topic at the beginning of this decade to a highly useful tool in the field of surface science at present. STM is capable of generating surface images with atomic resolution and thus affords the direct observation of individual atoms. STM can also be utilized for microscopic purposes competing advantageously with Transmission Electron Microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy. STM instruments are completely computerized and easy to use. This technique will be used to introduce undergraduate students to the growing field of surface chemistry. This project will pioneer the incorporation of STM into upper level chemistry laboratories in undergraduate courses of Instrumental Analysis and Physical Chemistry.
