Patent ID: 8863311

Claim:
A radio-frequency (RF) reflectometry scanning tunneling microscope suitable for observing a surface of an object, said RF reflectometry scanning tunneling microscope comprising: a probe adapted to be positioned relative to the surface of the object, and to interact with the object to form a tunneling resistor therebetween; an RF resonant circuit including an inductor that has a first end connected to said probe, a capacitor connected to the first end of said inductor, and a resistor connected in parallel with said capacitor, wherein said RF resonant circuit is to cooperate with the tunneling resistor to form a LCR resonant circuit in which said inductor is connected to a parallel connection of said capacitor, said resistor and the tunneling resistor; a first directional coupler coupled electrically to a second end of said inductor of said RF resonant circuit; an RF signal generator operable to generate an RF signal and adapted to output the RF signal via said first directional coupler to the LCR resonant circuit, the RF signal being reflected by the LCR resonant circuit so as to result in a reflected RF signal; and an RF signal measuring device adapted to receive the reflected RF signal from the LCR resonant circuit via said first directional coupler, and operable to generate a scanning result associated with the surface of the object based on the reflected RF signal.