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Why are high temperatures used to study atom diffusion and corrosion with a scanning tunneling microscope?
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scanning tunneling microscope
How atoms can be seen.
When using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), high temperatures are employed specifically to facilitate the study of rapid atomic processes.
Because the diffusion of atoms across the surface of metals and the chemical process of corrosion occur at rates that can be observed and analyzed more effectively under thermally activated conditions, researchers heat the samples above 973 K (700 °C). This thermal energy increases the mobility of atoms, allowing scientists to document these dynamic surface phenomena in real time using the STM's high-resolution imaging capabilities.1