A new simple description of scanning tunneling microscopy as "cold emission" is developed. The model allows a simple evaluation of the pre-exponential factor in the tunneling probability expression. It is shown that this factor is directly related to the spatial distribution of the surface wavefunction of the electron (or the degree of localization of the electron density). This factor also determines the shape of the local current-voltage characteristics at low voltages, if other factors are excluded. It is shown that the experimental current-voltage characteristics in some cases are in agreement with the proposed model.
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