Atomically flat surface preparation for surface-sensitive technologies

Tang Cen-Yao^{1, 2}, Rao Zhi-Cheng^{1, 2}, Yuan Qian-Qian^{3, 4}, Tian Shang-Jie⁵, Li Hang^{1, 2}, Huang Yao-Bo⁶, Lei He-Chang⁵, Li Shao-Chun^{3, 4}, Qian Tian^{1, 7}, Sun Yu-Jie^{1, 7, ‡}, Ding Hong^{1, 7}

(a) STM image of CoSi (001) surface at U = −1 V and I_t = 100 pA, (b) STM image of CoSi (011) surface at U = +500 mV and I_t = 100 pA, and (c) STM image of CoSi (111) surface at U = −1 V and I_t = 100 pA. The selected area is 4 nm × 4 nm.