Surface texture parameters as a tool to measure image quality in scanning probe microscope

The behavior of the texture parameters of surfaces imaged by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) under different control conditions in the feedback loop is shown. The analysis of the main surface texture parameters such as the rms-roughness, the skewness, the kurtosis and the average wavelength obtained from STM images shows that they have a strong dependence on the values of the parameters used in the feedback loop for imaging regardless of the visual quality of the images that can be the same. Thus, surface texture parameters can be used to measure image quality in STM in relation to two nondimensional parameters (G and K) that described the measurement conditions. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.