A measurement of the sensitivity of inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy

Single-Molecule Vibrational Spectroscopy and Microscopy

“…IETS is not as broadly applicable as electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and infrared spectroscopy, which can be performed on exposed, well-ordered surfaces in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV). However, IETS is about 10 times as sensitive as these other techniques (3); as few as lo9 molecules are needed within the j~~nction to give a useful spectrum (4).…”

Characterization of Metal Oxide Surfaces and Thin Semiconductor Films by Inelastic Electron Tunneling Spectroscopy

“…They concluded that although these aliphatic dicarboxylic acids are adsorbed as monocarboxylate anions on the surfaces, the νC=O peak of the COOH group in the tunneling spectra is attenuated by the presence of the Pb top electrode from a comparison of the MRAIR spectra. 63,64 The tunneling spectra of benzoic acid 5,17,18,[25][26][27][66][67][68][69][70]83 and various related compounds [16][17][18]26,41,51,56,65,[69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78]80,81,83 were measured and reported. Benzoic acid is adsorbed as benzoate anion on alumina and magnesia, giving a good tunneling spectrum with strong and well-resolved peaks.…”

Recent advances in inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy

“…(2) Normal modes which involve a net oscillating dipole moment normal to the surface should appear more strongly than modes that have an oscillating dipole moment parallel to the surface. (3) Modes that are neither Raman active nor infrared active may be observable.…”