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Updated: Jul 2, 2026

All-electronic Nanosecond-resolved Scanning Tunneling Microscopy: Facilitating the Investigation of Single Dopant Charge Dynamics
Published on: January 19, 2018
High-resolution dc-voltage-biased ac conductance bridge for tunnel junction measurements
M V Moody1, J L Paterson, R L Ciali
1Physics Dept., University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22901, USA.
Abstract:
A simple, low-cost conductance bridge circuit, which provides high-resolution measurements of dI/dV and d 2I/dV2 for a voltage-biased load, is presented. A resolution in dI/dV for a 90-Omega tunnel junction of several parts in 10(5) has been measured using a 35-microV-rms modulation level and a 1-s postdetection time constant (Bn=0.25 Hz). The output impedance of the voltage source and the error in the conductance measurement are discussed. The output impedance of the circuit with an AD119 operational amplifier is 0.02 Omega. A detailed discussion of Johnson-Nyquist, tunnel junction, and amplifier noise is presented.
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