inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS). In IETS, two metal plates are placed very close to each other, separated by a tiny gap. If a voltage is applied between the plates, electrons will gather on one plate, making it negatively charged (the donor), and will experience an attractive force from the other, positively charged, plate (the acceptor). Considered classically, the electrons lack the energy to jump across the insulating gap between the plates; but electrons are quantum objects and, if the gap is small enough, they can quantum tunnel across from donor to acceptor. This process
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