Atomic STM image of graphite (HOPG)

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• 4 x 4 nm STM image of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), acquired with a tunneling current of 1.2 nA, a sample bias of -100 mV, and a scan rate of 41 Hz in the constant height mode.
  
  
• White object is carbon atom and spacing between two atoms is 2.5 angstrom.
  
  
• In this image, every other carbon atom appears from the real honey comb structure of HOPG. The resulting image is a hexagonal closed-packed pattern due to a particular symmetry of the wave functions at the Fermi surface near the K points in the surface Brillouin zone.

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