The scanning tunneling microscope or STM, was invented in 1981 by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer of IBM's Zurich Lab in Zurich, Switzerland.
t is used to obtain images of conductive surfaces at an atomic scale 2 x 10-10 m or 0.2 nanometre.
It can also be used to alter the observed material by manipulating individual atoms, triggering chemical reactions, and creating ions by removing individual electrons from atoms and then reverting them to atoms by replacing the electrons..
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