A simple device for heating single-crystal samples to temperatures ≥2000 °C in ultrahigh vacuum that is compatible with the standard sample plates used in a common commercial scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is described.

Heating high melting point samples to higher temperatures than is possible with many existing STM sample holders is necessary to obtain clean, well-ordered surfaces. Results are demonstrated for the (0001) surface of ZrB2, which has a melting point of 3050 °C.