Validation and accuracy of peak synthesis software for XPS

In order to improve the spatial resolution in scanning near-field optical microscopy SNOM., we designed a hybrid system of illumination mode SNOM integrated with scanning tunnelling microscopy STM.by introducing a metal-coated optical fiber tip with a nanometer-scale aperture. The aperture is also covered with a thin metal layer, thus the top of the aperture acts as an STM tip. We employed several materials to show the capability of our hybrid SNOMrSTM system as a tool to investigate nanoscopic phenomena. We present a simultaneous SNOMrSTM imaging of Au 111., where the SNOM image has a lateral resolution of the order of nanometers, quite comparable to that of the STM image. An azobenzene dye molecule embedded in liquid crystalline cyanobiphenyl molecules on MoS2 was also investigated. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.