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Low conductive support for thermal insulation of a sample holder of a variable temperature scanning tunneling microscope

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Article number085103
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>08/2013
<mark>Journal</mark>Review of Scientific Instruments
Issue number8
Volume84
Number of pages6
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

We have designed a supporting system to fix a sample holder of a scanning tunneling microscope in an UHV chamber at room temperature. The microscope will operate down to a temperature of 20 K. Low thermal conductance, high mechanical stiffness, and small dimensions are the main features of the supporting system. Three sets of four glass balls placed in vertices of a tetrahedron are used for thermal insulation based on small contact areas between the glass balls. We have analyzed the thermal conductivity of the contacts between the balls mutually and between a ball and a metallic plate while the results have been applied to the entire support. The calculation based on a simple model of the setup has been verified with some experimental measurements. In comparison with other feasible supporting structures, the designed support has the lowest thermal conductance.