A.M. Baró, R. Miranda, et al.
Nature
We show that scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images can be dominated by elastic deformations induced by atomic forces between tip and surface. New STM experiments on graphite (0001) showing a strong variation of the giant corrugation amplitudes with varying current at constant voltage are direct evidence of this atomic-force concept. Corrugations up to 8 A on a lateral scale of 2.4 are associated with forces up to 10-8 N for compression and 2 × 10-10 N for expansion. © 1986 The American Physical Society.