One of the most exciting aspects of the maker movement is its ability to empower individual enthusiasts with technology that was once the realm of large corporations and universities. A particularly impressive example of this phenomenon is McGill University Physics PhD student Dan Berard’s Teensy 3.1-based low-cost scanning tunneling microscope (STM) project.

Using a cheap piezo buzzer, Dan has accomplished atomic resolution with select materials, using a manually sharpened tip.

A detailed explanation of the techniques and components used in the project, as well as some incredible images generated by the system can be found on Dan’s blog.